Just Wanna Be Me
by rayluva4
Summary: COMPLETE. Ana's a princess,its that simple...well to her its not. Etiqette classes and learning to be a lady have never really been her thing. So she runs away to the village,and meets a group of trouble making guys. All the possiblities right?
1. Another Day As Me

Hey this is my new fic and im really excited so I hope you enjoy it.

Don't own beyblade….

Better Summary: Ana is a princess. It's that simple…well, to her it's not. Etiquette classes and learning to be a lady have never really been her thing. So once she get tired of it she runs away to the village in search for more thrilling life. There she meets an interesting group of guys that like to cause trouble…now what?

Oh and this is rated T for cussing later but I might change it to M later im not sure but just warning ya.

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 1: Another Day as Me **

Ana slipped into her dress. It was simple and pale pink, with long sleeves, and hung off the shoulders.

There was a knock on the door, "Can I help you, Miss?" a 16 year old girl asked. Her name was Mariah and she had pink hair with hazel eyes.

Mariah walked up behind Ana tied the back of the dress.

Ana was also 16 and lived in a castle. She lived with her mom and dad who were the King and Queen. She also had a 13-year-old little sister named Skye.

"Miss, your majesty would like to see you in the throne room," Mariah said once she was finished.

"Yes, thank you Mariah," Ana said and the girl left the room.

Ana brushed out her long white hair, put on her earrings, put on her shoes, then left her room.

Ana made her way to the throne room and found her mother.

"You called?" Ana asked.

"Anabell I wanted to remind you that you have etiquette classes today, and please behave and don't try to skip I this time," her mother begged.

Ana hated etiquette classes and trying to be all proper and stuff. She rather just do what she wanted, whether it be playing in the mud, running around, or just being lazy. Ana knew her mother wanted her to go so she usually toughed it out.

"Yes momma, but how many times do I have to tell u: call me Ana," Ana said.

Her mother sighed, "Ana how many times do I have to tell u: Anabell is your real name and it's much more proper. You are older and are becoming a lady, people are going to start calling you that… including myself."

Ana smiled and laughed, "Ok fine," then she walked off.

Actually Ana was pretty used to be called something other then her name. Her mother and father called her Anabell, people from other kingdoms called her your majesty, and everybody else called her princess. All except Mariah who was new and Ana planed on making friends and changing 'Miss' to just 'Ana'.

Ana met Mistress Platel, her etiquette instructor, in the ballroom.

"Evening Mistress," Ana said.

"Evening Princess, let us get started," Mistress Platel said after she bowed.

The first thing Ana had to do was put books on her head and walk around. She was doing pretty good until she had to dance with then on her.

Ana sucked at this kind of dancing. She was better at 'dirty' dancing or that's what her friend called it. Her two real friends worked in the garden, they were the only ones who called her Ana. They were Hilary and Tala. They had both visited the village many times, so Hilary showed her how to dance and Tala showed her how to use a sword and a bow and arrow, (in secret of course.) Ana was better at those things then etiquette junk, well actually those things and singing. Ana loved to sing and she was very good at it, she especially loved making up her own songs.

After her dancing lessons, Ana had to sit down and practice her table manners.

She thought she was sitting up straight, but according to Mistress Platel Ana was still slouching.

Once that nightmare was over Ana finally got to the part she really enjoyed: her singing lessons.

A professional singer came in named Miss Noud. Miss Noud came in once a week to help Ana improve in her singing.

Miss Noud told her to sing from her diaphragm.

"Beautiful!" Miss Noud exclaimed.

When her lessons were over, Ana went back up to her room.

She put on her old black dress that came a little above her ankles and put on her boots. Mariah then came in to put up her hair in a braid.

Ana then went outside to find Hilary and Tala.

She looked for a little while but couldn't find them, but just then a hand popped out from behind a large bush.

"Over here Ana," someone said.

Ana walked over and saw that it was Tala who was busy digging a hole.

"Hey what's goin on?" she asked.

"Nothin much, how was etiquette classes?" he asked.

Ana rolled her eyes, "What'd you think?" she laughed.

"That bad huh?" Tala asked.

Ana nodded, "Always been that way."

Ana stood there for awhile, but soon got bored. She sighed and picked up some dirt then threw it at Tala.

Tala turned around, "What was that for?" he asked.

She shrugged "Your boring, when your busy," then laughed.

Tala sighed then picked up some dirt and threw it at Ana and soon they were in a dirt war.

When they were tired they collapsed and laid in the dirt.

Suddenly Hilary came around the corner.

"Hey Tala …oh hey Ana, umm what are you two doing?" Hilary asked looking at them.

"We had a dirt war," Ana answered.

"Obviously," Hilary laughed.

They talked foe a while until the sun started to go down.

Ana sighed, "I think I better go inside," she said.

"Yeah me too. I didn't ant work done, I at least need to finish this stupid hole," Tala said getting up and starting to dig in the hole he was working at earlier.

" Ok see ya Ana," Hilary said.

Ok done hope u liked and will post the next chapter VERY soon. Oh and the next chapter is called Stranger at the Hot Spring and an unknown someone interrupts her bath and she gets sick. Trust me its better then it sounds! Plz review and much thanks!


	2. Stranger at the Hot Spring

Hey all! Next chapter! Don't own beyblade unfortunately.

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 2: Stranger at the Hot Spring **

Ana tried to sneak in inside without her parents seeing because she was all dirty, but as always her mother caught her.

"Anabell Lee Williams! Where have you been, what…what did you do? We've talked about this before, this is not what a lady would do!" her mother yelled.

Ana rolled her eyes," Momma calm down, it's ok, I'll just go wash it off," she said.

"Oh you better," her mother said.

"Can I go to the hot spring?" Ana asked.

"Do what you want, just get the dirt off please," her mother replied.

Ana smiled, she hadn't been it the hot spring in awhile.

The hot spring was outside and whenever you took a bath in it there were supposed to be guards around it a couple hundred yards out.

Ana brought a couple of towels and clean clothes. When she go to the spring, she got undressed and walked in.

Ana looked up at the stars, relaxed and closed her eyes, "_It feels great to finally relax in_ _the spring for awhile_," she thought.

Suddenly she heard people yelling, Ana opened her eyes. Just then a cloaked figure jumped from the bushes, followed by a guard.

Ana screamed, dipped down more into the water and covered herself.

The cloaked figure leaped into the spring, and so did the guard and they started to sword fight.

"You're not allowed in this area!" the guard yelled. The figure just shrugged.

While they were fighting, Ana noticed a red X on the figure's hand.

Suddenly the cloaked person did a back flip out of the water and ran off into the woods.

The guard followed but before he left he said, "I'm very sorry about this princess!" Then he ran off.

Ana was breathing hard still wondering what just happened. She heard more people yelling and coming her way. "Oh shit, now what" she thought. If she got out for her towel, she's risked being seen completely naked, if she stayed in the spring it's be just as embarrassing since the water was almost see through.

But the first person Ana saw was Mariah.

Mariah grabbed Ana's towel, quickly ran up behind Ana, then held it out in front of the naked girl.

Ana lifted herself out of the water, then Mariah wrapped the towel around the girls body just as the guards came.

They were all yelling at once: "Are you ok Miss?"

"Are you hurt princess?"

"Which way did they go?"

Ana just nodded, "I'm fine really, and they wen that way," Ana said pointing in the right direction. The guards bowed and went that way.

Mariah put her arm around Ana and led her up toward the castle.

A guard came down to them, "Your majesty, the King and Queen would like to see you," he said.

The girls nodded then Mariah lead Ana to the throne room with her arm around the wet girl. Ana was freezing her ass off.

As the two girls walked in, the Queen squealed and took off the cloak thing she was wearing, and ran up to her daughter and put it around her.

"Anabell, honey, what happened?" she asked.

Ana noticed the guard that was fighting the cloaked figure was there.

"Someone just came in while I was bathing, but Momma I'm fine," she said.

"No your not fine!" her mother yelled.

"Once we find this person, he/she will be badly punished," the king said.

Ana sighed, she actually kind of liked the action. Not many exciting things happened around there, but there was nothing she could do about it. Ana wasn't too worried about the cloaked figure though, if they could get passed the gates and get away from the guards; then they were good to go.

Ana saw that all the servants and guards were in the room, including Hilary and Tala. Hilary had a worried expression on her face, while Tala looked like he was sad or sorry or something and just stared at the ground.

Ana sneezed.

"Wonderful! Now your sick!" her mother screamed.

"Mariah take my daughter up to her room, give her some stew and take care of her," the king instructed.

Mariah nodded then bowed and her and Ana headed up to her room.

Yay over! Hope you liked and the next chapter is called A New Found Glory, where Ana gets closer to Mariah, comes up with a plan to go to the village where she meets some guys! (the bladebreakers) YAY! It should be up pretty soon as long as I get some reviews for this. Plz review and if you have any questions just ask! Bye!


	3. A New Found Glory

Hey all gonna start this chapter now. And i don't own anything!

Oh and reality bites: thank u soo much for reviewing! Ur my firs and it means a lot I just hope i get more reviews!

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 3: A New Found Glory **

The next day Ana was sick and stayed in bed. The only visitor she got was Mariah who only came in with her meals.

Ana was really bored, but she did have a lot of time to herself to think, and so far she had a brilliant idea.

The next day Ana was feeling better, just as she hoped. Today she was going to go to the village, which is what she had decided the other night. Ana wanted to get out of the castle and see what it was like outside the gates and also to see if she could try something fun. Ana wanted an exciting life like the cloaked figure from the other night.

Ana had an idea but it would have to wait until dark, so she acted like she was sick all day.

Once the sun started to go down, Ana put on her old black dress again, then called for Mariah.

While she was waiting Ana put on her boots.

When Mariah finally came in, Ana had her put her hair in a long braid in the back, then she had Mariah sit next to her on her bed.

Ana sighed, "Ok here's the thing: I want to get out of here. So I'm going to climb out of my window and visit the village. What I need you to do for me is to please, please, please, tell my parents that I'm still sick and that I don't want any visitors because I don't want them to catch what I have," she said then took a breath and waited for all this to sink into Mariah head.

Ana continued, "I'm not commanding you to do anything, I'm asking you. This is your choice as a person, so don't feel obligated to say yes," she finished.

Mariah looked at the floor and thought for a minute, then she looked up and said, "Ok I'll help," she said smiling.

Ana's face lit up, "Really? Good, but I'm gonna need a rope, can you get one for me?" she asked. Mariah nodded and left.

While Mariah was gone, Ana put a cloak around herself, then grabbed a hidden bag of money that was in her drawers and put it in her dress just in case.

By that Mariah was back. Ana took the rope from her, then tied it to the railing from her balcony, and threw it over the side so the rope dangled from her room, over the balcony, and to the ground.

"Good luck Miss," Mariah said.

Ana nodded, "Thanks for all of this Mariah, including the other night at the hot spring. I thought for sure a guard was going to come running out of the trees," Ana said laughing.

Mariah smiled, "Your welcome," she replied.

"Oh and if you want you can call me Ana, I like it better," Ana said.

Mariah nodded.

Ana walked up to the rope, then pulled her hood over her head before swinging her foot over the railing and climbing down. "I should be back in a day or two," she whispered.

Ana was at the edge of the village. She made she her hood was up, then rubbed the necklace she was wearing. Ana's grandmother had given her that necklace before she died when Ana was only 5, and she never took it off after that. The string stuff was black with a white gem at the end. The necklace was actually more like a choker that wrapped around her neck and crossed at the front.

Ana walked around looking at all the different people and carts of food and goods. She wasn't looking were she was going and bumped into a really big guy in front of her.

"Oh sorry," she said.

"Watch where your goin shrimp," the guy said.

Aan was taken back, "Excuse me. I said I was sorry!" she replied angrily.

"That a challenge kid?" The man asked taking out his sword.

Ana didn't have much choice and time to react because he swung at her. She ducked and grabbed the nearest thing to her: it was a branch.

Ana and the man started to sword fight, and she wasn't doing that bad until the branch snapped and the guy punched her in the side of the face, sending her to the ground.

Even though her cheek was burning, her first reaction was to make sure her hood was still up, which it was.

"Now look how tough you are," the man said and held his sword over his head, ready to cut Ana in two.

Suddenly a guy with long black hair wrapped up in a white cloth going all the way down to his ankles, blocked the man's sword with his own.

Once the man saw this black haired-guy, he gave up and walked off.

The guy that saved Ana turned around and held out his hand to help her up.

"You ok?" he asked. Ana nodded and grabbed his hand.

The guy was kind of surprised at how soft Ana's hands were, and how clean and perfect the nails were. People in the village didn't have that clean of hands, but he shook it off.

Ana got up to see three more guys standing next to her.

There was a guy with blonde, one with light brown hair, and one with navy hair.

"Hey you ok kid?" the blonde one asked.

Ana nodded again, she really didn't feel like talking since her head kind of hurt from the punch. She wasn't used to being punched being a princess and all.

"That was a pretty big punch you took there, can we see it?" the black haired one asked. Ana shook her head.

The navy haired one looked suspicious, "Why not? Who are you? Why do u have a hood over your head?" he asked. Then he walked up to her and tried to pull down Ana's hood but she slapped his hand away.

"Don't," Ana said seriously.

The light haired boy raised an eyebrow, "You're a girl?" he asked after hearing her voice.

"Last time I checked," Ana answered.

"Wow, you know how to use the sword well for being a girl, or a stick," the black haired one said smiling.

"Yeah next time don't use a stick," the navy haired one laughed.

"Yeah well thanks for the advice," Ana said sarcastically, "but that was the only thing close."

Just then a guy with grayish blue hair jumped down from the nearest hut.

"What 's goin on," he asked.

"Well this girl here was fighting this really big guy with a stick which broke. He was just about to cut her into pieces when Ray saved her," the one with navy hair explained.

Ana noticed the grayish- blue haired one had a red mark on his hand, just like the guy who broke in the other night.

"You have a red mark on your hand?" Ana asked slowly. The guy glanced at his hand.

"Yeah we all do," the blonde one said, "hi I'm Max," he finished.

"Ray," the black haired one that saved her said.

"Tyson," the navy one said.

"Kenny," said the light haired brown one.

"Kai," replied the grayish- blue haired one.

"Umm…Kristy," Ana lied.

"We cal ourselves A New Found Glory," explained Kenny.

"Yeah we're a group. We like to sneak into the castle grounds and mess thing up, it's quite fun actually," Max explained.

"We don't really like the King or Queen either," Tyson added.

"Acutely we just had an attack the other day but the only one who could go was Kai, the rest of us were busy," Ray explained.

"Heard it was a good night too. Kai saw the princess in the hot spring," Tyson smiled.

Kai lifted his eyebrows and nodded while Ana's eyes widened, her heart pretty much stopped.

"Yeah I only saw her once a long time ago but I remember she was really pretty," Max said.

"Supposedly she's really hot," Tyson added.

Ana rolled her eyes, "hey I know you just met me and all but…I really want to be a part of your group," she said.

"But you're a girl," Kenny protested.

"And you're a guy, so what?" Ana said.

"Your sword skills weren't the best earlier either," Tyson added.

"I can do better with a real sword, that was a stick. Let me prove it to you," she begged.

"Fine here's your chance. You and me, right now," Kai said pulling out is sword.

Ana leaned over to Tyson and grabbed his sword from where it as hanging at his side.

"Hey!" Tyson said, "that's mine."

"Well I'm borrowing it then," Ana replied and go into position.

Soon Kai and Ana were fighting. Ana was doing ok but Kai over powered her and she ended up on the ground.

"Not bad, and I think we can fix your mistakes…ok your in," Kai said smiling slightly. Ana smiled too under her hood.

"But your technique seems awfully familiar. I think we need to know who you really are," Kai said suspiciously, then he used his sword to push down Ana's hood.

When Kai saw who it was, his eyebrows rose.

"Princess Anabell!" the other asked, shocked.

Ana just stared at the ground.

"What were you doing? Spying on people in the village to find out who did the thing the other night?" Max asked.

Ana shook her head, "No, I swear it's nothing like that," she replied.

"Then what is it?" Ray asked.

Ana sighed, "I needed to get out of the palace, I really don't belong there. I wanted to do something fun and wild. I wanted to know what that like and how people live in the village. That's why I wanted to join your group," she explained.

"But that's your home, why would you want to mess with it?" Kenny asked.

"It isn't really, it feels more like a prison most the time to me," Ana replied.

Kai sighed, "Ok if that's what you want you can stay," he said.

"Really? Cool," Ana said excitedly.

"What about your parents, won't they be looking for you?" Ray asked.

"Nope I'm in bed with a cold from the other night's incident," Ana said smiling at Kai.

"So I guess you heard everything of what we said, you no about you being hot and in the spring and stuff," Tyson said.

"Uh yeah," Ana replied.

"No chance you didn't miss any?" he asked, "Don't think so," she replied.

"Yeah sorry bout that," Ray said.

Ana shrugged," It's ok."

Tyson shrugged, "Well there's no point in hiding it then: Boys we were right bout one thing…she's hot."

The guys laughed, Ana just rolled her eyes at him then said to al of them, "Teach me to be better."

Kai nodded, "Don't worry, but did Tala show you how to use a sword?" he asked.

Ana nodded, "Yeah, how do you know him?" she asked.

"Tala's a part of A New Found Glory," Kenny explained.

"Really? I never knew that," Ana said.

"Yeah he lets us in," Max added.

"Other wise we wouldn't be able to get in," Tyson finished.

"Wow, then do you know Hilary?" Ana asked.

"Yep, but she's not in the group, she's more of a friend," answered Ray.

"Well Tala was right about you," Tyson said.

"Why's that?" asked Ana.

"He said you and him were friends, and he said that you were different from all the other royal people, like you didn't belong there or something. I think he's right too," Tyson answered. Ana just shrugged.

Kai helped Ana off the ground since she was still sitting there, "Ok now that were done wasting time…your training starts now. You got a lot more learn then you think," he said.

The next day Ana woke up and realized she had fallen asleep on the ground last night after training.

She got up, and ate something with the others, then it was off to training again. Besides learning how to use a sword, Ana also learned a lot about her new friends:

Tyson was the annoying loud one, Max was the hyper and slaphappy one, and Kenny wasn't really a fighter but the brains of the group. Then there was Ray who was kind of quiet but really nice, and Kai who was the leader, didn't talk all that much and was tough.

Once the sun started to set, Ana decided it was time to go home for a while.

"See ya guys, I'll be back soon," she told them as she left for the castle.

When Ana got back it was dark, but as she ran up to the side of the castle below her room, she saw that the rope was hanging from the balcony. "_Mariah must have put it_ _there just in case_," Ana thought.

Ana climbed up the rope and into her room, where she took off her cloak and got ready for bed, then went to sleep.

Well that was chapter 3 and next is chapter 4 if you can count and its called The Village where Ana's parents make her go to the village to see if they can find who broke in the other night, also Ana tells Tala and Hilary about her night and talk to then about it. Any questions ask! Next chapter will be up soon and plz review im not getting many at all! I fell sad!


	4. The Village

Hey! Im still not getting many review but a extremely big thanks to Whitelighter skyangel!

**Whitelighter skyangel:** THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! It means so much to me that you keep reviewing! I mean when nobody review it makes you feel bad and like your hard work gets washed down the drain, if ya no wat I mean. But I love ur reviews! And ur idea about the secret crush, when I read it I was like 'oh that's perfect!' so if you don't mind I think I'll use it, but Tala's not gonna get really mad, just a little upset and protective, but it was a good idea anyway, THANKS!

On with the chapter! Don't own anything….

**Just Wanna Be Me **

**Chapter 4: The Village **

Ana woke up to the sun shining in her face. She sat up and stretched looking out the huge window in front of her bed that lead out to her balcony. Usually she didn't like having the window across from her bed because the sun rose that way and was always in her face when she woke up unless she shut the curtains: which she forgot to last night. Ana didn't mind the sun in her face today since she was in a really good mood. She was really happy with what had happened, she couldn't wait till her first attack on the castle. Ana got out of bed and called for Mariah. When the girl did come in she looked really relieved, "Miss- I mean Ana, your back. I was getting really worried, I didn't know when you were coming back," she said. 

Ana smiled, "Yeah I'm back," she said.

"So how was it?" Mariah asked excitedly.

"It was great! I met these guys and…" Ana exclaimed and explained the rest.

When Ana was done Mariah's eyes widened, "What? Your gonna attack the castle?" she asked in a worried tone.

Ana laughed, "Relax I'm not gonna kill any one, just gonna have some fun…something that always seems to be lacking around here," Ana answered.

"Ok well I'm sure you won't do anything to bad," Mariah said smiling.

Ana shrugged, "You know what…I'm not even sure about that one," she said and the two girls started to laugh.

Suddenly Mariah stopped and just remembered something, "Oh I almost forgot: your parents won't to see you," she said.

Ana's smile turned into a worried frown, "Do they know?" she asked quickly.

"No it's for something else," Mariah assured her.

Ana relaxed, "Oh good and thanks, I'll see you later Mari," she said.

Mariah nodded smiling, bowed, then left.

Ana got out of her nightgown and slipped into something simple to go see her parents in, then left her room.

Ana walked to the throne room to find her mother and father.

"Good to see your feeling better," her mother said. Ana nodded to her.

"Anabell today we are going down to the village. I want you to see if you can recognize any of the people as the guy from the other night," her father answered.

"But daddy, they had a cloak over them," replied Ana.

"I am quite aware of that, but I want you to see if you can recognize, maybe, they way they walked, if they limped, or how they were built, anything at all will do," the king said. Ana nodded.

"I want you to wear something nice since we are going out into public. I want you to wear your teara too," her mom instructed.

"Yes momma," Ana replied.

In about a year Ana would become queen and go from a teara to a crown. Her mother was very proud and excited already, but not Ana. The closer the date, the more etiquette classes she had a week. She also had to get married soon. Ana wanted to find someone she liked, but her parents said they had already found someone, and they would be visiting. Ana could wait for that day and decided she would be sick that day too.

The royal family wouldn't be leaving till later, so Ana had a few hours to herself. She decided this would be a good time to talk to Tala and Hilary: especially Tala.

Ana walked outside and found Tala. Him and Hilary were trying to put a small tree in a hole Tala had just dug. "Hey guys," she said.

"Hey," they said while finally getting the tree in the hole.

"Looks like your feeling better," Hillary pointed out, Ana nodded.

"Glad to hear it," Tala added.

Ana then took that time to tell them what had happened the past couple nights.

"They also said you were part of they're group," Ana said to Tala when she was finished.

"Yeah I am. I let them in the gates. But I swear I never meant for that to happen the other night, if I would've known that…" Tala tried to say but Ana cut him off.

"It's ok I'm glad you did. If you wouldn't have done it, I probably never would've ran away. I'm glad I did, I haven't been this happy in a while," Ana explained.

Then she said, "Your friends are somethin else though."

Tala laughed, "Yeah I know."

"I mean Tyson's out there, Max's is hyper, Kenny's smart, Ray's really nice, and Kai…well he's just Kai. But for some reason I think I like him," Ana explained.

Tala looked taken back at first but that was quickly covered up by a bit of jealousy, "Well trust me when I say: I've known Kai pretty much my whole life, and he's very independent and 'lone wolfish'. He's defiantly the type that would break someone's heart if he wanted to," Tala explained.

Ana laughed, "Thanks for the advice Tala, but I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself. Besides I think I can change him, I don't mind a challenge, it keeps things interesting," she replied smiling.

Tala could feel more jealousy rising toward his old friend, "Well do what you want but remember what I said, I just don't want to see you get hurt is all," he said defensively.

Ana laughed and nodded, after, there was a very long creepy silence that followed.

It was about of minute of 'sighs' and 'clearing throats' before Tala thought of something to break the quiet before they all went insane.

"Uh, Hilary knows them too," he said.

"So I've heard," Ana replied looking at Hilary.

"I'm just a friend, I'm not in the group though, I'm no good with swords," Hilary said.

They laughed, and then Ana just remembered something she wanted to ask Tala, "Umm, Tala? Do u have a red X thingy on your hand? I no the others do but I never noticed it on you," she said.

Tala smiled, lifted his right hand, and then pulled off the glove he was wearing for digging holes and stuff. Sure enough there was a fairly large red X on the top of his hand, "Yeah, see? You just never saw it cause I usually wear gloves," he answered.

Ana looked at his hand, seeming very interested, then she grabbed his hand and held it up to her so she could see it better. She then started to trace the X symbol on his hand with her finger.

"Hmm…" Ana hummed thinking to herself.

Hilary noticed that Ana seemed very interested, where as Tala looked like he was enjoying himself. Ana didn't seem to notice. Hilary rolled her eyes.

"_Wonder how they get it to stay red_?" Ana thought to herself, lost in her own world.

After about a minute Ana lost fascination in his hand and put it down.

"Don't worry you'll eventually get your," Tala laughed.

Then the 3 of them changed the subject and talked for a while until Ana had to go in to get ready to go to the village.

Once she had left, Hillary looked at Tala.

"What," he said flatly.

Hilary just kept her intense stare.

"What!" Tala asked getting slightly annoyed.

"I'll tell you what. It was your whole 'I've known Kai pretty much my whole life and he's defiantly the type to hurt some one, I just don't want you to get hurt' shit you gave earlier," Hilary said in a mocking tone.

Tala shrugged, "I'm just trying to be a good friend," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh cut the innocent act… I know you like her so you can stop hiding it cause you don't do a very good job," Hillary stated.

Tala sighed looking defeated.

Hilary took in a breath, "I figured it out, but obviously she hasn't, so if you want her to return the feelings or even **know**, then your gonna have to tell her. You know how she can be sometimes: can't see what's right **smack** in front of her…god it's so obvious!" she yelled not believing that she was the only one who figured it out. "I can't believe she didn't notice that look on your face when she was holding your hand either!"

Tala sighed," Yeah maybe your right," he said.

Hilary nodded, "I **am** right. And you what else: you better do it before it's too late."

Ana went up to her room, and to her closet to pick out what to wear. She finally decided on a strapless white dress, white shoes to got with it, then had Mariah come and put her hair in half a ponytail.

"You look beautiful," Mariah said when she was done.

"Thanks Mari," Ana replied.

When Ana was about ready to leave her room, she carefully took her teara that's sits on a pillow in the corner, and put it on her head, "Perfect," she said then headed down stairs.

On the way to the throne room, Ana met her younger sister Skylin, who was 14, half way down. The younger sibling was wearing a light blue dress, which was holster top, and her mini teara.

"Hey," Ana said smiling.

"Hi, haven't seen you in a while," Skye smiled back.

"Yeah, well, I guess we've both been busy," answered Ana.

The two sisters walked down to the throne room together where they met they're parents, then all 4 of them walked to the carriage.

The Queen seemed satisfied with how her two daughters looked, "You two look very lovely," she complimented.

The King nodded his approval.

After they rode out of the castle gates it was really bumpy, so the ride down to the village wasn't very pleasant.

When the family finally did get down to the village, the carriage stooped in the middle of the town where there was a well. All the village people gathered around.

The man that was driving the carriage stood up from his little seat near the top of the carriage, "Men, women, and children of the village. May I present to you King James, and Queen Arianna, and their two daughters, princess Anabell, and Princess Skyln," he yelled so every one could hear.

Ana, Skye, and the king and queen got out of the carriage.

The crowd of people got one knee and bowed.

"The royal family would like to ask if anyone here knows anything about the other night. Anything will do to please your highnesses," the carriage guy yelled.

"Go on," Ana's mother urged when no one spoke up.

Ana nodded and started to walk around the people who were still bowed.

Ana noticed max, Tyson, Ray, Kai and Kenny bowed toward the back of the crowd.

She smiled to herself then walked back there. Ana walked right in front of them. Since they were on one knee and their heads were bowed all they could see was the ends of her dress and her feet.

Tyson raised his head to look up at her, Ana just stared back slightly smiling.

When she was done playing around, Ana walked around the people a little bit longer until she got bored, then she went back to her parents.

"Momma, daddy, I don't see anything," she said.

"Ok, well then we'll go back," he father said.

The family got back into the carriage, while the guy that drove yelled a 'thank you' to the people, then snapped the whips and the horses started off.

Sooo… hope you like it and the next chapter is chapter 5 and it's called One Interesting Night where Ana goes to more 'hell' classes and she has her first attack on the castle, then after they have a party in a pub to celebrate and Ana and Kai get a little 'closer'. Mahaha! This is gonna be good! Oh and do I see a little love triangle cooking up here? ABSOUTLY! This chapter is gonna pretty long I think….

Oh but the bad news is im going out of town for a week so this next long chapter won't be up for about another week or so…but keep checking! (after a week. I would appreciate it greatly!) sorry.

But plz review and if have any questions plz ask! And thanks again to **Whitelighter** **skyangel**! Luv ya!


	5. One Intersting Night

Hey I'm back! Lucky everyone around me! Yeah right…anyway I got another person to review finally and I'm very happy! Also this chapter is probably goin to be long so lets get started….

**Whitelighter skyangel** – thank you sooo much! You've stayed with me all the way so far and I hope you continue. Oh and yes I did have a good time thanks for askin! Also…I read your profile and I was surprised to find that your names Skye. I really like that name and used it in my story. I think you're the only person I know that likes that name, wow, well it is your name but still. And I plan on reading some of your stories sometime, they sound interesting especially 'Growing Up'. Well that's it hope you like this chapter, it took me a long time.

**RedFoxDemon** – YAY! Another person reviewed! THANKS! I'm excited! Glad you like it and I hope you stay with me.

Don't own anything.

**Just Wanna Be Me **

**Chapter 5: One Interesting Night**

The next day Ana got up, got dressed and went down for breakfast. Then she had etiquette classes. Today she was to meet with Mr. Moony for history lessons- her least favorite. When she asked her mom why she had to take history lessons, the queen simple said that in order for Ana to rule the land, she had to know it, including it's land, economy, culture, and past. Ana knew her mom was right but that didn't make it any less boring then it was. 

Usually when she wasn't paying attention she wasn't paying attention, which was all the time, she was making fun of Mr. Moony's name in her head.

Ana did pay attention at times because she knew a lot of people at parties and balls would talk about the land, money, and economics and she wanted something to say and not to be left out.

When Ana got to the room where Mr. Moony was, she sat down and got comfy, since she was going to be there for awhile, before her started.

"Ok princess, when the British attacked…" he started but the rest just sounded like mumbling to Ana.

" _Blah, blah, blah! God he's so annoying. If this is what it's like to be queen, then I have a long boring life ahead of me," _she thought.

After a solid 2 hours of listening to him talk, she had to go to reading and writing class. Yeah most of the people then didn't know how to do either of those thing, so it was only fitting for the future queen to learn this too.

Ana had had these classes since she was really little, so the 2 hours of these classes were fairly easy.

After those classes were over, Ana got some lunch, then went outside to hang out with Tala and Hilary.

After a couple of hours Ana had to go back in for her observing session where she watched her mother and father to learn what kind of things she would have to do as queen.

When she was done it was nearly sunset. Ana couldn't wait till it was dark to go met A New Found Glory, so she decided to go a little early instead.

Ana went up to her room and put on the same black dress as always, then had Mariah come braid her hair. After, she put on her cloak, pulled up the hood, then climbed down her rope to the village.

Ana met the guys at the usual training spot. It was on the outskirts of the village, under a huge weeping willow tree.

"Hey guys," she said when she saw them.

"Hey Ana your early," Kenny pointed out.

"Yeah well, it was an extremely boring day today, so I had to get out of there," Ana replied.

"That desperate, huh?" Ray asked.

Ana nodded, "You have no idea," she said rolling her eyes.

"So did I scare you guys the other day when me and my family came to the village?" Ana asked smiling.

"Yeah dude, I thought you were goin turn us in or somethin, I bout peed my pants," Tyson yelled.

Max nodded.

"But may I say you looked beautiful," Tyson continued.

Ana rolled her eyes, "Back off," she said.

"Ok idiots, let's stop jacking off. We need to get ready," Kai informed everyone.

Ray, Max, Tyson, and Kenny nodded.

"Ana were going to the castle tonight," Kai continued.

"Really? Cool, I've been waiting for you to say that," Ana said excitedly.

Kai handed Ana some guy clothes and a different cloak. She then went into the woods to change into them.

When she walked back, Kai was waiting for her with a bow and a couple of arrows in his hands.

"Here, I wanna see how you do with a bow," Kai said handing them to her.

Ana took them, set up the arrow, pulled back then bow, and shot at a tree.

It hit dead center.

Kai nodded his approval and then pointed at a different tree that was a lot farther away then the last one.

Ana shot at that one and almost hit the center, but was a little to the left.

"Wow, nice," Max breathed.

"Pretty good, Tala taught you well," Kai said.

"He was always really good with bows though, better then a sword at least," Ray added.

Ana smiled, "He is really good. I like bows better though, so I asked him to teach me more with that then with swords," she explained.

The group nodded.

"Take those with you to the castle, along with your sword," Kai instructed and smiled.

Ana smiled back, "_He has a nice smile when he actually does it_," Ana thought. Then she lifted up her cloak to put her sword into her belt that came with the clothes, and then swung the case with the arrows on her back.

"Ready guys?" Kenny asked.

They all nodded, then put up their hoods and left for the castle.

By the time they got to the castle gates, it was dark. When they walked up to the gates, Tala was already there to let them in.

"Thanks dude," Tyson said as they walked past him.

"Hey guys," Tala said then started to scan through the 6 hooded people. "Ana? You here too?" he asked.

Ana pushed down her hood, "Yep right here," she said smiling.

Tala smiled back, "Trust me, your gonna have fun," he said.

"I plan to," Ana laughed.

"Hey Tala, good job teaching her, especially with the bow," Max said hitting Tala on the back.

Tala shrugged, "What can I say," he laughed.

"Hey guys, we'd better get goin if we're gonna do this tonight," Ray said.

"Ok Ana, shoot at that guard, and miss but just by a little bit, then the fun begins," he smiled.

"Can't wait," she laughed and pulled up her hood. Ana loaded her bow, pulled it back, and let go. The arrow sailed through the darkness and missed the guard's head by an inch.

The guard's eyes widened in fear, "Ahhhh! The castle is under attack!" the guard yelled and ran off screaming some more. Soon in the distance you could hear more yelling and people warning each other.

Everyone laughed.

"Never really liked that guard anyway," Ana said still laughing.

"K guys, Kenny as always you stay with Tala. Ray, Tyson, and Max you got the left side of the castle. Tonight I'll take Ana on the right side," Kai instructed when every settled down.

"Aye Aye Cap'em," Tyson said.

"Have fun guys," Kenny waved.

"That won't be too hard," Ray replied smiling under his hood.

"Remember to meet back in an hour," Max said, then the three group separated.

Let's go," Kai said turning to Ana, who nodded, then they left.

Kai snuck around the side of the huge building, with Ana close behind him.

"Hey uh, I've got a question… were to Tala and Kenny go, I mean you gave the other group a side to go on but not them. Were do they go?" Ana whispered.

Kai looked both ways when they came on a corner to make sure the coast was clear, then he said, "Tala usually doesn't go. We can't risk him getting caught, since he works here, but him and Kenny usually sorta watch over us, in some really high place, I don't know. Sometimes he does come though, when he wants to," Kai explained not looking at Ana but everywhere else to make sure every thing was clear.

"Oh," Ana said flatly.

Suddenly Kai stopped, causing Ana to bump into his back.

"Ow…what is it?" Ana asked.

"Shhh," Kai hushed her, "someone's coming."

Ana shut up and listened hard and sure enough she heard someone's foot steps.

Kai spun around, grabbed her hand, and lead her to the nearest tree where they both climbed up it.

Ana was slightly blushing, she was thankful it was dark.

Once they both were settled in the tree, they waited. Soon Ana recognized the tree they were in, "This used to be the tree me, Hilary, and Tala used to play in when we were little," Ana thought.

Flashback 

"_Ana! Hillary! Common guys, were are you!" a little 8 year old Tala yelled looking for his friends. He came to a tree and stopped, "Guys!" he yelled again. _

_Suddenly a little girl with white hair jumped from the tree Tala was standing under, causing him to fall on his butt. _

"_Gotcha!" the little girl laughed. She was laughing so hard that she fell to the ground too, holding her stomach, she looked like she was about to pee her pants. _

"_Oh my god Ana!" Tala yelled at his friend. Ana just kept laughing. _

_Just then a little girl with short brown hair walked out of the bushes laughing, "Ha ha, Tala you should have seen your face!" she said. _

"_Yeah you looked like you were going to poop your pants!" Ana said once she calmed down a bit which wasn't a lot because she was still laughing. _

"_Shut up, you scared me. But don't worry, you'll get yours," Tala said evily. _

_Ana suddenly stopped laughing, and the two girls just looked at one another for a minute, then started busting out laughing again, "Yeah sure," the said rolling their eyes at the little boy. _

"_Nice one," Hillary smiled at Ana and gave her a high five. _

_End Flashback _

"_Tala really did look like he crapped himself," _Ana thought smiling to herself.

Soon they could hear the guard coming closer; "Watch this," Kai told Ana smiling, she nodded.

Once the guard was closer and under the branch Kai was on, he jumped down and landed on the guard's shoulders. Kai put his hands over the poor guy's eyes.

"Ahhh!" the guard yelled trying to get back his balance.

Ana was laughing really hard.

Finally after riding for a while, Kai jumped off and landed on the ground taking his sword out of it's sheath.

Once regained his balance again, he also took out his sword.

Ana was still laughing, but stopped when she saw another guard coming to help. It was her turn.

Ana jumped down from the tree and pulled out her sword, and then she and the guard started to sword fight.

She was having so much fun until three more guards arrived.

Luckily Kai was there because with out him she would have got her butt kicked. Once Kai saw all the guards coming he ran to Ana, and the two of them fought back to back.

Soon Kai and Ana figured that they were out numbered, "Follow me," Kai told Ana and ran past the guards; Ana was close behind.

Ana followed Kai through the grounds. They knew the guards were still following them, so Kai found a vine and pulled it from a tree. He took one end of it and Ana the other end and then she ran across from Kai.

When the guards came running trying to look for them, Kai and Ana pulled the vine tight, and the guards went flying. Then the two kids ran the opposite direction laughing.

After their hour of fun was over Ana and Kai met back up with the group at the gates.

"How'd you like your first night?" Ray asked when she appeared.

"It was so much fun! I love doing this!" Ana answered excitedly, "Next time I'll get you inside though."

"Sweet!" Tyson exclaimed, "double the fun!"

"I got a few rules though: you can't touch my sister, or my servant Mariah; she's got pink hair and is my age, just so ya know. Also I know you guys don't like my parents but don't hurt them either," Ana told them.

"Agreed," Max assured her. Everyone nodded.

"Now that we got that over with, lets party!" Tyson said excitedly.

Everyone one including Tala and Hillary snuck back out of the gates and headed down to the village.

When they got down there, Hillary got Ana some girl's clothes to wear. She quickly changed into them, and they all went to the pub to celebrate.

They stopped outside the doors, "Oh hey I almost forgot," Hillary said and handed Ana a rope, "this goes around your waist."

Ana took it and put it around herself, then tied it, "How do you guys live in these things, they're so itchy," she said pulling at her clothes.

"Don't got much of a choice," Ray pointed out.

Ana thought for a second, "Good point," she said finally.

The group walked into the bar and went straight to the bar and ordered drinks.

After drinking for a while Ana got up, "Common guys, celebrating doesn't just mean drinking," she said dragging Hillary toward the crowd in the middle of the room that was dancing.

At first she just danced with Hillary, but then when the others came out she danced with them, which included Max, Tyson, Kenny, Ray, and Tala. Hillary stuck with Tyson pretty much the whole time, while Ana stuck with Tala most the time. He defiantly looked like he was enjoying himself, beyond words actually, and when Hillary saw this she just rolled her eyes at him. Tala just shrugged happily when he saw her do this.

Ana noticed Kai was still at the bar, so she walked over to him.

"Hey, common everyone's dancing except you. Don't de such a tight wod, lighten up and relax," she told him and grabbed his wrist, then dragged him into the crowd.

Once out on the floor, Ana started dancing with Kai, REALLY dancing.

Tala saw this and started getting super jealous.

Hillary, who was still dancing with Tyson, noticed this, "_Good job you didn't tell her_ _idiot_," Hillary scolded Tala in her head. She kept dancing with Tyson, "_What kind of_ _mess am I gonna have to clean up_?" Hillary thought shaking her head.

Tyson saw this, "What's wrong?" he asked her.

Hillary snapped back into reality, "Oh just Tala," she said giving him a weak smile and motioning over to Tala.

Tyson looked up at Tala and instantly knew what was up. "Oh," he simply said, him and the all the others knew about Tala's 'little' crush.

Just then Max came over, his eyes wide. "Wow Hillary, I knew you taught Ana how to dance, but that right there is really dirty," Max said still starting at Ana and their leader.

Hillary just shrugged, "I did but only the basics, she made up the other stuff by herself," she replied still dancing.

After a while Kai loosened up and started to get into it. "_Finally he's enjoying himself_," Ana thought catching a glimpse of him.

When Ana got tired of dancing, she grabbed Kai's hand and led him outside.

Tala saw this and was about to follow but a hand came down on his shoulder stopping him. "I tried to tell you. I'm sorry but I think it's too late now," Hillary said in a gentle voice.

Tala hung his head looking defeated.

When Ana and Kai got outside, Ana plopped down on the ground; Kai sat next to her.

"Wow I'm tired now, it was getting hot in there too," she said taking a breath.

Kai smiled, "Yeah it kinda was," he said.

It was silent for a minute then Ana said, "Hey I've been wondering this for a while…how did A New Found Glory start?"

Kai sighed, "Well um… one time the King and Queen were taking in people from the village to come and work at the castle. Me, Tala, and Ray's mothers were taken and Tyson, Max, and Kenny's fathers were taken. That was the last we saw of them. Ray's Tala's and my fathers were mad and decided they were going to raid the castle to get them back. They started teaching themselves how to use the sword and bow. When we Ray, Tala, and me were about 7 years old, our fathers taught us and the rest of the group. We didn't get to far though, because a couple mouths later a sickness came over the village, killing our fathers and the other's mothers. After that we all decided to keep teaching ourselves and eventually became 'A New Found Glory'. Then the plan was that one of us would go work in the castle to let us in, it ended up being Tala. Later we met Hillary," Kai explained.

Ana nodded understanding, "I'm sorry about all of your guys parents though," she sincerely.

"Yeah me too," Kai replied and laid on his back looking at the dark sky, Ana did the same.

It was quiet again until Ana said something. "My grandma died in that sickness too, if it makes you feel any better. We were really close but she gave me this necklace before she died, I always wear it," Ana explained showing Kai the necklace.

Ana thought for a minute then continued, "My parents get on my nerves all the time, but I don't know what I do if anything happened to them," she said sadly.

Kai smiled slightly, "Yeah it wasn't easy, but we all helped each other get through it. But you really don't know what you've got most the time, till it's gone," he said still looking up at the sky.

Ana smiled, "Yeah I know, I think your right," she said. Then it was quiet yet again.

"_Wow Kai actually has a nice, understanding side. I can kinda understand why though_," Ana thought.

Kai suddenly decided he was going to change the mood.

"But ya know later I met this girl who happened to be a princess, and she wanted to join our group too," Kai smiled.

Ana smiled deciding she would play along, "Oh? And did you approve of this princess?" she asked.

"Well she was pretty, and not too bad with a sword or bow," he replied.

"And was this all she was good for?" Ana asked suspiciously.

"Well actually I'm still trying to figure that out, but so far she's a lot more then I thought, especially as a princess," Kai replied.

Ana laughed then rolled over and laid her head on Kai's stomach. At first he was surprised but quickly shook it that off, and put his arm around her.

The two of them laid like that for a long time, just laying there silently looking at the stars until Ana decided it was time to head back home. She got up.

"I better get back, it's getting really late," she said.

Kai nodded and got up as well, "Yeah I think your right," he said sighing.

"Tell the others I went home, k?" she asked.

Kai nodded, then Ana kissed him on the cheek and left while waving as she ran off.

Kai smiled to himself and then went back inside the pub.

Ana got back to her room and changed, then laid in bed for a while. She thought about what had happened that night and how much fun she had, and then about Kai. She finally found someone she really liked, even though she knew it wouldn't work out, and that she shouldn't get attached, but she couldn't help it.

Ana sighed. It had defiantly been a very interesting night though.

YAY! All done. K next chapter is chapter 5: Sister's Love, were basically Skye knows there's something wrong so she asks Ana bout it and finds everything out. Yeah it's gonna be short probably, oh well. K thanks for reviewing and plz do it again, and if u have any questions ask. Oh and sorry if Kai seemed a little out of character, but just **tell** **me** if it's that bad or if its bothering you, also if there's something I need to improve on, **tell me**. Hope you enjoyed cause it took me a long time.


	6. Sister's Love

Hey guys wat up? Anyway here's the next chapter and yes it is short, sorry I have to get it out of the way and all. Thanks for reviewing every one!

**Whitelighter Skyangel** – as always thanks again, I enjoy your reviews, and I'm glad you like the story. I'll defiantly read more of your story once it's up too.

**Kaeley Mel**- Hey thanks! Hope you enjoy the rest!

**Just Wanna Be Me **

**Chapter 6: Sister's Love**

The next morning Ana woke up and stretched, she was in another good mood today, even though she got to bed late. "_I can make a habit out of this_," she thought.

Ana got changed then headed down to breakfast. She noticed as she walked down there that even though she was in a good mood, the rest of the castle defiantly wasn't by all means. They all were still getting over last night, "_Suckers_," Ana laughed in her head. Ok, maybe that was a little bit harsh… but hey! No one could ruin her good attitude today…or at least she hoped.

When Ana got down stairs and to the dinning room table, she walked over to her parents and gave them each a kiss on the cheek, "Good morning," she greeted them.

The queen and king looked at each other then at their daughter: she hadn't been in this good of mood since who knows when.

Skye also have Ana a weird look, but it was a kind of suspicious 'I'm on to you' look.

Ana seated her self across from Skye and dug into her breakfast. Through the whole meal Skye eyeballed her sister and her weird behavior, "_She's been acting a lot like this lately_, _that's not a coincidence_," Skye thought still staring at Ana while gracefully putting food in her own mouth.

Once Ana was gone eating, she excused herself from the table with a smile and headed up to her room.

Once their daughter had left, the king and queen looked at each other, "Well that was strange," the king pointed out. "Yes but I'm glad to see she is enjoying herself though," the queen added.

Skye just rolled her eyes, "May I please be excused daddy?" she asked innocently. Her father nodded thoughtfully. Skye made her way up to her sister's room.

Ana was in her room, in front of her mirror brushing out her long white hair, humming to herself when there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," Ana replied to the noise and Skye walked in stopping a few feet behind her sister so Ana could she Skye in the mirror.

"So did you see what happened last night," Skye asked innocently.

Ana kept brushing her hair, not looking at Skye's refection, "No, I slept through the whole thing actually, but I heard about it, sounds awful," she mused.

Skye rolled her eyes, "Stop playing dumb Ana, don't lie to me. First you act all happy and nice even after the attack happened, then you tell me you slept through the whole thing? Yeah…right, something's up, tell me," Skye said a bit annoyed.

Ana sighed and stopped brushing her hair, then turned around looking Skye in the eye. She then told her the whole thing.

"So you were in that group that attacked us?" Skye breathed when Ana was done.

The older sister nodded, "Please Skye, don't tell anyone. I'm having so much fun and I met some really great people. I even met this guy named Kai and I really like him," Ana explained.

Skye frowned, "Ana you know it's not going to work out between you and him, so don't go and do something stupid, please," Skye begged.

"Don't worry about it," Ana laughed.

"Ana this isn't funny, your atacking our home and are in love with a peasant!" Skye yelled.

Ana froze. She was taken back, not because her sister was yelling at her but because he sister had just accused her of loving Kai. Did she really love Kai, or did she just like him? Love was such a strong word to describe her feelings toward him right now. Ana shook it off and laughed again.

"Oh lighten up, when's the last time we actually had fun around here, huh? Plus I think you would even like some of these guys, they're really nice, so much fun, and not to mention not half bad looking either," Ana said smiling.

Skye had to laugh at that, "Ok whatever, I haven't seen you this happy in a while, you deserve it anyway, I mean with all the classes your taking and with all the stress with the up coming date? Yeah do whatever, but just promise me you'll be careful, then maybe I'll meet these people," she said.

"Ok deal," Ana laughed rolling her eyes, "But trust me…you won't be sorry when you see them." Skye laughed and then she nodded.

The two sisters hugged, then Skye left.

Hey I'm done! Yeah that was pretty short sorry about that again. Next is chapter 7: My New Romance, where Ana gets her own red X mark, and Ana also gets to meet her future husband, it's hate at first sight, baby! Anyway this guy is just a little bit 'touchy' if you know what I mean. Also Tala wants to have a little chat with Ana :) well this is gonna be another long one so stay tuned! Plz review!


	7. My New Romance

Hey all. Sorry for the wait, its just school and crap. Anyway thank you to people who reviewed! And here's the next chapter! Don't own nothin…

**Whitelighter skyangel**- lol yeah Ana's future husband is an ass wipe, and a horny one at that. Glad your enjoying and that's for all the wonderful reviews. LUV YA!

**Kaeley Mel** – hey thanks again for the review, hope you keep reading!

**Just Wanna Be Me **

**Chapter 7: My New Romance**

A couple of days later, Ana went back to the village to practice more. Her and Kai were getting close.

Ana swung at Ray and missed, then Ray spun and hit Ana's side lightly with his sword.

"Dead again," he said, Ana sighed, blowing the hair out of her face.

"He's right …look," Kai said coming up behind Ana so they were touching. Then he put his hand over hers and started to glide the sword in graceful swings left and right. "Your too tense, relax and concentrate," he instructed.

While Kai was teaching Ana, the rest of the group was talking.

"I think a little somethin, somethin is going on between them two," Tyson smiled looking at Ana and Kai.

"Yeah I think your right. I've never seen Kai this happy before, or at least after our parents. I didn't even know he could love, period." Max said looking a little surprised.

"Same here, but I hope they know it's probably not goin to work," Ray said, "I mean Ana's a princess and Kai's a villager who hates most the people in the castle."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that. I mean they could both change something, they're both powerful. Kai's a strong leader and Ana, well she's a princess, almost queen. People do crazy things, and these two are defiantly not an exception," Kenny explained.

"Yeah I think your right," Max replied, the group nodded.

Later that night, when everyone was tired, Ana said good bye and was about to leave when Tyson stopped her, "Hey hold on a sec," he said, Ana stopped and came back.

Tyson turned to Kai, "What'd ya say we give Ana her red X? I think she deserves it since she came with us the other night," Tyson explained.

Kai thought for a minute, "Alright, if she wants one," he said.

Everyone smiled, Max motioned Ana over, "Do u want one?" he asked. "Damn right I do," she replied.

"Ok this is what we do: first we cut an X on you then we put this mushed up plant stuff over it which keeps it red and makes sure the wound heals into a scar," Ray explained.

Ana smiled to herself, "So that's how it stays that color," she said.

"Still want it it's your choice," Kenny added, Ana nodded.

Kai then took a small knife out of his back pocket and then extended his hand, waiting for her to give him her hand.

Ana hesitated, "Hold on. I don't think the back of the hand is a good place. My parents would defiantly see that," she said.

"Good point, but were should we put it then?" Max asked.

"Yeah somewhere your parents are less likely to see it," Tyson added.

Everyone thought for a minute, "_Where could it go? It could go on my ankle…no I have short dresses too. Hmmm… what about…yes that's good, I just have to watch it_ _sometimes_," Ana thought to herself.

"I think I have an idea," Ana replied, everyone looked at her. "How about on my chest?" she suggested shrugging.

Everyone stared at her, "Are you sure, I mean some of the dresses you have are low cut, right?" Ray asked.

"Yeah some are, but I just have to be careful and watch it, I can't think of anywhere else anyway," Ana answered.

Kai nodded, "If that's where you want it then that's where its going," she said.

Tyson just shrugged, "Whatever, I'm gonna go get the plants. Anyone want to come?" he asked.

"I will. Better make sure you don't get the poison ones," Kenny said, Tyson gave him a death glare, then the two walked off.

Tyson and Kenny were back in 5 minutes with a couple red flowers and some plants that looked like weeds. First they put them in a small bowl, then added a little water. Last Kenny took a rock and mashed all the stuff together forming a dark red goop that smelt pretty bad.

Ana scrunched up her face when she smelt it, "Are we ready?" she asked, Kai nodded.

Ana pulled down the top of her dress so that pretty big part of her right breast was exposed. Kai walked up to her, put a hand on her shoulder, then gently touched her soft, tanned skin with the tip of the blade.

"Ready?" he asked looking up at her, Ana nodded.

Kai pushed down on the blade and dragged it, cutting a bloody line to the inside of Ana's chest. Ana let out a light gasp when he did this. When the first line of the X was made, Kai started on the second one. When he was finished there was a X shaped wound on Ana's right breast to the inside of it, it was bleeding a bit.

Max handed Ana something to clean it up with. She thanked him and took it, then wiped all the blood that was dripping down her front, away. When she was finished Ray handed Kai the red, fowl smelling goop. He was about to put some of it on his fingertips when Ana stopped him.

"I think I'll do it," she said raising an eyebrow. Kai got the message and handed her the bowel slightly smiling.

Ana took the bowel from Kai and dipped her fingers in the goop. She then took some and gently rubbed it into her wound. When she was done she handed the bowel back and wiped her hands on the side of her dress.

Ana was about to pull up her dress when Tyson stopped her, "You need to keep that exposed for at least 5 minutes," he said.

Ana sighed rolling her eyes then looked at Kai for support to make sure Tyson wasn't making it up. Kai nodded indicating that Tyson was right. Ana shook her head back and forth in shame.

After 5 minutes was up, Ana pulled up the top of her dress then headed home for the night.

The next morning Mariah came in early and woke Ana up.

"Sorry Ana but the King and Queen would like to see you,' Mariah replied.

Ana rolled over in her bed and moaned, "You've got to be kidding me. Now? God it's like too early," she complained. Ana was defiantly not a morning person, nor did she like getting woke up.

Mariah laughed, "Yes now," she said.

Ana said alright and the pink haired girl left.

Ana dragged herself out of bed and went down stairs in her nightgown, which was silky, light pink and spaghetti strapped, it came down to mid thigh. Ana knew her hair was messy and her mom didn't like her wearing her nightgown around but it was too early for Ana to care.

On her way down Ana checked her chest. The X was still there and it looked like it healed only instead of scabbing up, it was dark red. It looked like a birthmark only red.

Ana smiled to herself, "_That's cool_," she thought then pulled up her nightgown and made sure the symbol was covered before entering the throne room.

As soon as Ana walked into that room looking the way she did, her mother staring yelling at her.

"Anabell Lee! What do you think your doing, running around the castle like that!" the Queen yelled at her daughter.

Ana rolled her eyes," Momma relax, it's our home, I should be able to 'run' around in what I want. Plus it's way to early," she said.

The Queen frowned.

"I know it is early but we're having company soon so I want you to go and put on something very nice and put on your teara also," her mother said.

"May I ask who is so important that is coming?" Ana asked impatiently and sarcastically. She was really grouchy; you really don't want to mess with her in the mornings. Her mother was also telling her that she can't wear her nightgown around her own home, they we're having company, and to look nice she didn't help her mood at all.

"It's your future husband and you will behave and accept him," her father said firmly just a little annoyed at her tone of voice.

Ana's eyes widened, "What husband! I haven't even met him though and I'm suppose to marry him! What if I don't like him?" she asked nervously.

"You will have about a year before you get married so you will take that time to get to know him," her mother replied.

"But momma…" Ana whined.

"No! Your going to marry him and of discussion. He is very wealthy and honorable, he will make a good husband," the King said.

Ana sighed hanging her head, then headed to her room to get ready. She realized she was fighting a battle she couldn't win.

Ana got up to her room grabbed a pillow off her bed and started screaming into it. After her little screaming episode, she plopped down on her bed hugging the pillow. Ana felt a tear go down her cheek.

Just then Mariah came in, Ana quickly wiped her tear away.

"What's wrong?" Mariah asked.

"Nothing," Ana replied keeping almost all her face smothered her pillow.

"Common I know there's a reason you were crying," Mariah said sitting on the bed beside the miserable girl.

Ana hesitated then said, "Mari, there making me marry some guy I don't know, I don't even know his name. And if I don't like him I still have to marry him," she said started crying again.

Mariah's face softened and she started her fingers through Ana's hair.

"Maybe it's not that bad. Maybe he's nice and good looking too. I'm sure your parents wouldn't make you marry someone who wouldn't take care of you," Mariah assured her.

Ana sniffed, "Maybe your right," she said although she hadn't fully convinced herself yet.

"Common lets find you a nice dress," Mariah said getting up, then she walked over to Ana's wardrobe.

Ana nodded and slowly got up.

Ana ended up wearing a light blue dress, which had a low V- neck with no sleeves. She wore her hair down this time, and then slipped on her teara.

"There you look perfect, and that dress matches your eyes," Mariah complimented.

"Thanks Mari," Ana said smiling, then left her room.

When she got to the throne room, she found her parents sitting on their thrones; Skye was there too. She was wearing her mini teara and a simple pale green dress.

Ana took her spot, standing between her mother's chair and her sister who was standing also.

Skye smiled, "Can't wait to see the guy," she said.

"I can," Ana said in a grumpy mood still.

Skye frowned, "Why's that, your getting married to this guy, aren't you excited?" she asked.

"Skye I don't even know this guy, I've never talked to him or seen him, and I'm supposed to get married to him. I'm really not that happy right now," Ana said a little softer this time.

Skye shrugged, "Yeah I can see your point, must be kinda weird," she said, Ana nodded.

Just then a guard came in "Your majesties, Boris has arrived," he said bowing to the royal family.

"Excellent, send him in," the King instructed.

Suddenly a man, who looked about 50, walked in and started toward the family. When he got up to them he bowed low.

Ana's eyes widened, "_Oh shit, this can't be the guy I'm suppose to marry_," She though panicking. She turned to Skye who gave her a worried and sympathetic look.

"Your majesties… ah this must be my lovely future wife, Anabell," he said turning to Ana. Then Boris knelt down on one knee and took her hand and kissed it.

Ana's parents looked at each other and smiled happily.

"_Oh no you didn't, god now I have to go wash my hands …a lot_," Ana thought. This meeting was not turning out so great.

"Wow you are beautiful," Boris said looking up at her.

Ana tried to force a smile but it came out crooked. She was sick of people telling her she was beautiful. Why couldn't they tell her she was nice or had pretty eyes or something (one of the only things she liked about herself was her eyes.) Ana had decided right then and there she was not having kids with this guy, hell, she wasn't even gonna marry him.

"Thank you," Ana forced out.

"How very nice to see you Boris," the Queen said, he smiled at her and also kissed her hand.

"_Oh my god, is he hitting on my mom now!_" Ana thought disgusted.

"Anabell, why don't you walk Boris up to his new room," the Queen said.

Ana slowly nodded and started to walk upstairs with Boris close behind, a little too close actually. A servant that was carrying his bags was also following them.

Ana walked up the stairs not saying anything. When she got to his room she opened the door and al three of them walked in.

The servant put down the bags he was carrying and left, still Ana hadn't said anything and was staring at the ground.

Boris smiled once the servant left them alone and shut the door behind him. "I'm so glad we're getting married," he said and started to walk towards her.

Ana saw this and backed up till the back of her legs hit the side of the bed.

Boris was close, really close, like in her face now.

"Your just so gorgeous…" he said and started to lean on her. Ana was staring at him and when he started to lean on her she yelped and fell on her back onto the bed from his weight.

Boris was on top of her now kissing her neck, then trailing his kisses down her dress line in her front.

Ana was shocked and couldn't move, her mind was buzzing, but once she snapped back to reality and realized what was happening, she pushed him off of her. He was inches from her chest.

"Get off!" Ana yelled pushing him again and quickly got up.

"What's the problem?" Boris asked innocently.

Ana's anger was rising, "_What? You just tried to pull that shit and your asking me_ _what's the problem!_" Ana screamed at Boris in her head.

Ana took a deep breath a clamed down before she said, "The problem is I don't even know you. Yeah we're getting married but not for another year. That also doesn't mean I'm your toy now either," she said then stomped out of the room to find her mother.

When she did she was still mad, "Momma I don't want to marry him," Ana pleaded.

"Oh baby it's fine, you two will make a great couple," the queen said.

"But momma, he tried to like rape me just a second ago," Ana complained.

The queen sighed, "Anabell he's just trying to get you to like him, he's trying to make this work. You'll probably over exaggerating like you usually do anyway," she said gently.

Ana couldn't believe it, she stormed out and went to her room.

Ana washed her hands over and over again, then made herself a bath and climbed into it. She scrubbed herself over and over again.

"Ewww! I can't believe he touched me!" Ana said as she scrubbed herself. When she was done she just lay there in the water, relaxing.

"_I don't want to marry him… I … I like Kai not Boris. But it's never going to work; Kai's a villager. I should just forget about it, but I can't… I want to go visit him_," Ana thought, then quickly got out of the tub and got dressed.

It was still light out though so she had time to kill. Ana hung out with Mariah, and then Skye. As she was coming out of Skye's room were her and her sister were talking, Tala came up to her.

"Hey uh, can I talk to you for a second?" he asked, Ana nodded wondering what it was and followed Tala out of the castle.

Tala led Ana in to the gardens and to a bench that was sitting out there. Tala sat down then motioned for Ana to do the same, she did.

Tala hesitated. He looked like he was thinking over what he was about to say.

"Ummm… Ana, I've been uh, wanting to tell you this for a long time… I ummm, I really like you. I have for a really long time to, I loved joking around with you when we were kids and I love hanging around and talking to you now. You're smart, talented, beautiful, kind, and you've always been there for me. I love you Ana," he said stuttering a bit.

Ana looked into Tala's eyes; they were so sincere it was unreal to her. No one had ever really truly told her they loved her. Well actually they did but Ana could see past that lie and into the lust that would fell their eyes. Tala didn't have that look in his eyes though; she didn't expect him to have it either since she pretty much knew him her whole life.

Ana sighed, then smiled warmly at him, looking him straight in the eyes, "I kinda knew you were gonna tell me this soon or later, Hillary's been sorta hinting to me. Look… you've always been a great friend to me and I really appreciate it, a lot. But I'm sorry, I think that's all I see you as. You've always been there when I needed you and your great fun to hang out with and talk to, your so sweet, and I love you for it. But I really don't think we would work out," she said gently giving a small smile.

Tala's face fell and he looked at the ground. There was an uncomfortable silence for a minute then Tala said, "It's Kai isn't it?" Ana could tell there was a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"No that's not all of it. Don't get me wrong; I do really like Kai, but Tala, in reality I'm getting married. As much as I don't want to, I am, and I can't do anything about it," Ana told him.

Tala nodded, Ana sadly looked at him, "I'm really glad you came to me and told me the truth though. It's good that we talked about it and put out our feelings so that there wouldn't be any more tension. It was a good idea. I really hope though, that this doesn't ruin our friendship?" Ana said still looking at him.

For a while nothing happened, then Tala raised his head smiling, "Nah, not at all," he said warmly.

Ana's face lit up and she smiled back at him, "Good. But if you don't mind, as much as I don't want to, I'm supposed to give my fiancée a tour," Ana laughed rolling her eyes getting up as she did.

Tala laughed too and got up, then before Ana left she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek, "Thanks for not making this difficult, I really don't need it right now," Ana whispered then walked off.

"Your welcome," Tala replied as she walked off.

Just as she left, Hillary came out from hiding in the bushes, "So that looked like it went pretty well actually. A nice touch at the end too," she said smiling.

Tala rolled his eyes, "I can't believe you were watching," he said.

Hillary shrugged, "That's what I do," she said laughing.

Ana dragged herself inside thinking about what just happened, "_I think I made the right choice,_" she thought.

Ana went to find Boris then gave him a tour. As she was going this, Ana had the feeling her wasn't paying any attention to what she was saying. He was to busy looking at her butt or her chest, it was really starting to piss Ana off, and she suddenly remembered that she was really angry at him earlier.

When she was done it was finally dark. Ana was still pissed as she got ready to go down to the village. She couldn't wait to get down there and work off some steam while telling her friends about her rotten day.

Ok that chapter is FINALLY done! YAY! Sorry again about the late update. Next chapter is Chapter 8: Just letting it All Out, where Ana and Kai…. Well, you'll find out. And the group attacks the castle again. It's different this time though cause there inside and Ana is dead set on making her fiancée's night hell. I mean what is up with Boris anyway? What a horny little bastard! Oh well its funny ha ha. Oh and Ana was just a little bit of a whiny little bitch in this chapter but I mean wouldn't you be if you were forced to marry Boris? EWWW! And poor Tala he he he. Ok well plz review and hopefully the next chapter will be up soon.

Oh yeah I forgot: I'm thinking about starting a new fic, I no I no, I shouldn't, I still have others to update but I really want to. It's call The House of Vestal Virgins (its somethin in Italy, its actually pretty interesting if you want to google it sometime.) anyway it's an inuyasha fic if any of you like that show. I just need some opinions though before I start: does it sound like a good idea? Would any of you read it if I started? Cause if not I'm not even gonna bother with it… so just tell me what you think plz. If you don't like I won't be offended, promise.


	8. Just Letting It All Out

Ok next chapter and if you haven't already guessed I don't own anything. And thank you to the two best ppl in the world that reviewed! Luv ya always!

**Whitlighter skyangel**- hey thanks for the review. Yeah I no Boris sucks but hopefully he'll get his sooner or later! Thanks again, lots of love!

**Kaeley Mel**- hey I totally understand one time my computer didn't work for like a half a year, yeah it really sucked. Thanks for the review, lots of love!

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 8: Just letting it All Out **

When Ana found a New Found Glory in the regular spot, she blew up.

"He's a freaking hornball," Ana spat as she shot another arrow at the stick person that she had carved into a tree, which was supposed to be Boris.

"He's gross, he's arrogant, he's old, and he's a perv. He doesn't care about my personality or anything, all he cares about is my body. He doesn't even look up at me when I talk to him, he's either looking at my butt or my chest," Ana continued angrily, shooting another arrow and hitting the stick person in the head.

The group watched in interest.

"I'm saying right now that I know what he's thinking, and that he's so out of luck. If I have to marry him, I'm NOT going to have kids with him. Hell, I'll end the royal bloodline now," she yelled shooting again only this time hitting the stick person in the heart.

"Argh! If this was him right now I'd," Ana said angrily and pulled back her arrow. When she let go, the arrow flew through the air and hit the stick person between the legs.

The group flinched. "Ouch," Tyson muttered.

"How about we go to the castle tonight and you can take your anger out on Boris," Ray suggested not wanting her to get out of control and accidentally shoot someone. As soon as he said it though, he wished he hadn't because Ana got this really creepy look on her face.

"Really that's a great idea!" she replied evilly. Then she turned around to look at Kai with a complete look of innocence on her face, "What'd ya say Kai?" she asked hopefully, looking like a child begging for candy.

Kai thought for a minute of all the things the he could do to the man that's marring Ana and making her life hell. Then he shrugged, "I don't see why not," he answered, also with a glint of evil in his eyes as well.

The boys all started at their leader and Ana, 'scared' written on their foreheads, "They're really scary when they're mad. Especially when there mad and have something up their sleeves too," Kenny whispered. The boys nodded their agreement.

"Ha, yes! Let's go!" Ana said excitedly, quickly getting all her stuff together and ready to go.

Kenny, Tyson, Ray, and Max all shrunk back, ready for Ana to do anything else unpredictable. They all though she was this sweet, tough little princess until now when they saw demons in her eyes. Hell, for all they knew she could grow a red tail and horns and be called, 'ruler of the under world'.

When Kai saw that the rest of the group wasn't moving, he gave them a cold stare, which got them moving, a little bit more. Kai was up to this just as must as Ana was.

Once Tala let them in, they all followed Ana since she was showing them the way inside. Tala came to this time, he heard what they were going to do and wanted in on some of the action. Hillary and Kenny were somewhere safe.

Ana went around to the side of the castle where there was little windows stick out from the ground. The windows had metal bars on them: they were windows to the dungeons.

Ana bent down and pulled out the bars from the window.

"Wow that's pretty cool," Tyson mused.

"Is this the only window that does that?" Ray asked.

Ana nodded, "When I was little I did a lot of exploring and found this," she explained.

"How come I never new about this?" Tala asked.

Ana shrugged, "You never asked, I didn't really have a reason to I guess. I probably forgot. Come to think of it I don't think I told Hillary either…oops," she answered thinking to herself.

Once Ana came back to reality, they all made their way through the window. Tyson was first; he slid feet first into the window and landed in the dudgeon, where he slipped on some water and landed on his butt. Next was Max, then Tala, then Ray, and then Kai.

Once they were all in, Ana slid herself through, while Kai held out his hands and grabbed her waist to help her down. Tala was watching this and felt a pang of jealously grab at his heart, but he quickly shook it off.

"Thanks," Ana said brushing herself off. "So I guess we're all goin to the same place?" she asked.

Kai nodded, "Yeah, none of us really know our way around except for Tala, but I think we all want to see this Boris guy and have some fun," he said giving a slight evil smile. Ana grinned in response.

"Lead the way," Tyson said to Ana, who nodded then lead them out of the dungeon, hiding every once and awhile around corners from guards.

Once they all got out of the dungeon and to the next floor it was a bit harder, but the managed not to be seen till the second floor.

"Hey they're back!" a guard yelled as son as the group got up the stairs. Then there was more yelling from downstairs and some guards came up toward them.

Kai laughed, "Ready guys?" he asked.

They all smiled from under their hoods, "Damn right," Ray answered.

New Found Glory started to fight the guards, it wasn't that great though they kicked the guards butt pretty easily.

The group moved on, following Ana who was leading them straight to Boris's room. She meant business, she wasn't about to waste time playing around.

The group turned a corner to another hall and saw Boris coming out of his room to see what all of the fuss was about. As soon as he saw the group of cloaked figures coming his way, his eyes widened and he quickly went back in his room and slammed the door shut.

Ana laughed and so did the others. "Ready or not, here we come," she laughed.

The group went up to the door and pulled out their swords, "Ok Ana remember, don't get carried away, we're just gonna mess around with him. Let's not do anything rash," Tala said firmly.

"Aww fine," she replied disappointed.

Ana opened the door to find Boris in the middle of the room trembling. The group walked in and Ray quietly shut the door.

Boris was shaking, big time, eyeing their swords. Suddenly he dropped down on his knees, "Please don't hurt me," he begged.

Ana smirked under her hood, "_What a baby, and he's going to be my husband and is supposed to protect me?"_ she thought, "_Yeah right_."

Ana slowly walked up to him and placed her sword on his shoulder, and then walked around him dragging the sword across the front of his neck, then his back. Boris winced and swallowed. Ana kept torturing him, pressing harder each time she went around.

Once Ana decided he was so scared that he shit himself, she stopped then gave the group a quick nod and they excited the room. Once in the hall they all started laughing their asses off.

"Did you see him beg!" Max asked laughing.

"Yeah that was pretty great!" Tyson replied.

The group decided it was time to get out of there, so they all took off down the hall and headed for the stairs. On the way they saw Skye speed walking down the hall in her nightgown. She looked tired but alert as well as scared when they saw her.

When the girl saw them she froze, eyes wide. Ana just laughed and kept running toward her sister with the guys right behind. When she got close, Ana flipped up her cloak so the end of it flew over Skye's head as she ran past.

Skye smiled and relaxed when she realized it was Ana.

On the way down to the dungeon, the group ran into more guards. Ana ended up getting two guards to fight, something she hadn't fully mastered yet, and she basically could only do one right now with the training she had had. Ana was too busying fighting one of the guards that was in front of her, that she didn't see the second one come up behind her.

The guard behind Ana tripped her, sending her to the ground. Ana then looked up to see the guard raising his sword over his shoulders, ready to cut in two.

The man swung at her, but she dodged it and rolled over out of his reach with a deep cut on her arm. It stung her, Ana put her opposite hand over the wound, her face scrunched up in pain.

The guard got ready for another blow. Suddenly Kai popped up out of no where and blocked the swing. Ana was relived but shocked. She thought she'd never be happier to see him as she watched him fight the two guards and push them back. Ana was sill wide eyed and dumbfounded as her gently helped her up.

"You ok?" he asked seriously looking at her. Even though their faces were hidden beneath hoods, Ana could feel his intense gaze looking her straight in the eyes.

"Yeah I'm fine. Thanks," she answered as calmly as she could. Then they all heard more yelling and decided it was time to go before more guards came and they would be more out numbered then they could handle.

They escaped and ran to the dungeon and to the window they had climbed into earlier. They climbed out the window one by one, helping each other out. Once out side, Ana put the window bars back in place.

"Hey are you ok?" Ray asked glancing at her arm when she turned around.

"Yeah I'm fine. I don't think it's that bad," Ana answered smiling, then she said with humor in her voice, "Guess I need to learn how to take on at least two guards before I come again."

"Awww, don't worry we'll teach ya," Tyson laughed. Then came more yelling from inside, the group started to laugh again.

"Hey, that was a lot of fun guys. Thank you so much for helping, it means a lot to me," Ana replied looking at them seriously.

"No prob," Max answered.

"Yeah, I think we all enjoyed it too though," Ray laughed.

"Yeah I glad we came. You were right about Boris, god he's weird!" Tyson added. Ana laughed.

"Hate to break up the fun guys, but I think we'd better get going," Tala said. Kai nodded.

"Thanks again guys," Ana replied again and gave each of them a hug. Last was Kai. As Ana hugged him, she squeezed him just a little tighter, then whispered in his ear, "Thanks, I had a lot of fun, and again you saved my ass, I owe ya," then Ana slowly released the hug, keeping her face close to his. Once their lips were right next to each other, Ana shifted over and kissed Kai hard on the lips, who kissed back just as hard, and then the two lost themselves in their lip lock.

The group's eyes widened as they watched and they smirked. Except Tala who could feel his jealousy raising every second the kiss lasted. He let go of it though, "_This is what Ana wants, I'll I want to see is her happy. If this is what she wants then I won't stand in her_ _way. Kai needs this two, I haven't seen him smile, or even show much emotion since our parents died_," Tala thought…boy, was he getting mature or what.

Tyson whistled, "Yeah Kai! You the man, keep going!" he laughed. Everyone else did too, even Ana who could feel herself smile as her and Kai's lips were pressed together. Ana what was this? She could feel Kai's lips curve upward too. God this was turning out to be a good night.

Once the two were done, they released their kiss and hugged one more time before Kai and the others had to leave.

Ana turned to leave herself, and headed to her room. As she got closer she could see the rope hanging from her balcony, just waiting for her.

YaY! Omg how cute…! Too bad Ana can't marry Kai. Anyway next chapter is Chapter 9: Caught…well I guess the title sorta ruins it, but yeah something bad will happen, well actually two I think. But plz review! Oh and I just finished my fic Room Raiders: Beyblade Style if anyone is interested, it would mean a lot to me if you read and reviewed! Thanks! Lots of love –rayluva4

p


	9. Caught

Back again! And here's chapter 9! Don't own anything, but my characters.

**Whitelighter skyangel- Thanks!** I always look forward to your reviews and I really appreciate how you review all the time, it makes me feel special!

**JusticeDream **– Totally understand about your computer, it's ok. lol sometimes computers really suck. Nice guess though but not quite but thank you so much for reviewing and I really really hope you stay with me on this! Oh and if your interested I finished the last chapter in room raiders. Thanks again!

**Kaely Mel** – Thanks for the review and really thanks for reviewing all the chapters so far! lol yeah that would be pretty funny but too bad he gets what he wants in this chapter…which he totally doesn't deserve the least bit.

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 9: Caught **

Ana couldn't fall asleep. First she kept thinking about that night…and Kai of course. So many things were going through her head, but once she pieced them together she came to a conclusion: "_I think I love him, I've never felt this way before. It's weird but I feels right." _Ana thought to herself. "_Too bad I have to marry that perv though_."

Once she had gotten things sorted out in her head and started to fall asleep, she started to hear voices and yelling from downstairs. Ana thought all the excitement would have died down by now, but not from the sounds of it.

Ana climbed out of bed and headed downstairs with her nightgown on. She had a feeling her mother would yell at her, but right now she could care less. All Ana wanted to do was to find out what the hell was going on down there.

As soon as Ana came into the throne room though, she saw something that made her mood drop drastically.

Ana's parents were standing in front of their thrones, and in the middle of the room she saw Kai, Ray, Tyson, Tala, Max, and Kenny. They were cuffed, and they're hoods were down, guards were also surrounding them.

Ana's eyes widened and her heart caught in her throat. Her parents saw her and smiled excitedly motioning her over.

"Good news Anabell! We caught the people who were attacking the castle," her mother said happily.

"Well we caught all but one, there were 7 of them, but the other one must have gotten away. Don't worry though, we'll find him," her father assured her.

Ana walked over to her parents still staring wide-eyed at her friends, who just started at the ground.

"_Yeah daddy you are missing one, I should be down there cuffed with them_," Ana thought guiltily.

Ana's mother put an arm around her and squeezed when she finally got over there.

"I'm so happy," the queen said still smiling big.

"Yes, the new weapons we just got came in handy, their called guns, and that's how we caught them," the king explained.

Just then Boris came cautiously down the stairs, to see what was going on.

Ana rolled her eyes, "_He reminds me of a monkey when he walks like that… great I'm_ _marrying a dirty, smelly monkey_," she thought to herself as she watched him.

Boris smiled triumphantly when he saw New Found Glory lined up shoulder to shoulder, cuffed and surrounded by guards. He walked up to the group and looked then each in the eyes, giving off dirty looks to try to intimidate them. Each one of the boys though just stared back calmly, with a look of amusement in their eyes: they were all thinking about how funny he looked when they were messing with him.

Ana had to bite her lower lip to keep her laugh in. The scene was actually quite funny to her when she saw the look in her friend's eyes.

Boris saw that they were mocking him, which made him even angrier then he already was. But soon an evil smile spread on his face: he new he could convince the king to do want ever he wanted to them. So they were basically in his hands and it wasn't looking to good for them.

"Nice work your majesty, knew you'd catch those thieves," Boris said still with the evil smile on his face, "but I think they should be severely punished for their wrong doings."

Ana about flipped. She gave him a really nasty look, "_Who the hell said you made the decisions around here, especially about what to do with OUR prisoners…YOUR not even_ _apart of this family yet!" _she screamed in her head. God she was pissed at him for like the 50th time. Wow, wasn't their marriage gonna flow smooth.

Boris noticed the look on his fiancée's face but thought of it as a look of fear. Boy was he wrong; she was actually sorta thinking about profound things to do to him as he slept.

Boris made his way up to Ana who was still by her parents. "Don't worry my princess, I'm here, there's no need to be frightened," he said gently, slipping his arm around Ana's waist and pulling her to him.

Ana made a discussed face and shifted uncomfortably, "_The only thing I'm_ '_frightened_' _of is you_," she said sarcastically in her mind. What made her even more though was that Boris wasn't looking at her face anymore: he was staring at her chest and since he was taller then her and since she was so close; he could she directly down her nightgown which was spaghetti strapped. Ana scolded herself for wearing her nightgown down there, she had to make a mental note that since Boris lived her now, she couldn't wear what she wanted anymore. "_Damn it, I like to be comfy and wear what I want_," she thought. Ana really just prayed that he couldn't see her red X, then there'd really be a commotion.

Ana shifted again and tried to make sure he couldn't see down her nightgown as much. Kai noticed all the disgusted looks Ana had on her face and all the wiggling she was doing which made him even angrier with Boris; he was mad already that Boris was even touching her. Kai gave Boris a 'back off' look.

"Don't worry Boris, they're punishment will come tomorrow," the king said.

Ana turned toward her father with fear in her eyes, "But daddy…" she tried to say.

"No buts, now take them to the dungeons," the king said to his daughter then to the guards.

Ana was about to open her mouth but Kai looked at her and shook his head.

Ana turned away close to tears, she couldn't watch her friends being taken away. She pushed passed her parents and Boris, making her way to her room. She had things to do.

On the way up Ana ran into Skye, "Hey wants goin on?" the younger sister asked curiously.

Ana shook her head, "Our parents are insane, and Boris is an asshole. I'm sorry but your gonna have to go ask daddy what happened…I have something I need to do."

When Ana got up to her room, she slipped her cloak over her nightgown and stuck a couple of bobby pins in her hair.

When she thought that every thing had quieted down, she put up her hood and slipped out her bedroom door.

Ana snuck down the stairs and to the dungeons, only having to hide from guards twice. She entered the dungeon to see six guys in a cell spread throughout it sleeping.

Ray woke up when he heard Ana come in, "Ana?" he asked, the others woke up to.

Ana nodded walking up to the cell door. "Ana go back to your room, you don't need to be here," Kai said firmly glaring at her. The girl stood her ground though, "Look, I'm in this same as you, I did all the things you did. If you get caught, I should too, if not I should at least have to do what I can to get you out of here. You guys are my friends, you've been there for me, have taught me everything, and have done so much for me…I'm not going to leave you like this," she explained.

Everyone smiled except Kai who was sort of annoyed that he didn't listen to him, no one had ever done that before.

Ana reached up and took one of the bobby pins from her hair and began to pick the lock. Soon it clicked and she opened the cell door.

"Whoa where'd you learn to do that?" Max asked curiously.

"Taught myself cause I was bored," Ana replied.

"Wow, you find a lot to do when your bored," Ray replied.

"Yeah well castle life isn't what people think it is, it's not all great. I usually get bored pretty easily then most people though," she said shrugging.

Just then Kenny looked up over Ana's head, his eyes widened and he started to say her name, but he was too late. Someone hit Ana on the head and she fainted.

Ana woke up.

She was kneeling while someone was holding her down; her hands were tied behind her back, her hood was still up, and the cell she had just picked was looked again.

Ana looked up to see her parents, Skye and Boris standing off tot he side, and a guard in front of her, his sword out.

"Good work men, we caught the kid who thought her had escaped. Awww and he came back to help his friends and look what happened," Boris mocked. The guards laughed.

Ana rolled her eyes, "_Yeah something there's no way you'd do_," she thought with the same tone.

"I think this one's punishment will be now. You may do the honors of cutting off his head," the king said to the guard in front of Ana. She froze and could have sworn she stopped breathing. Skye did too; she looked like she was about to pass out, there was panic in her eyes too. She was just about say something but Kai beat her to it.

"You can't that's---" Kai yelled, you could tell there was fear in his voice. A guard cut him off though telling him to shut up.

"First I want to see this guy," Ana's mother said.

Ana let out a small breath. "_Is that any better?"_ she thought. Ana was debating if she rather just have her head cut off. On the bright side it would put her out of her misery…and on the even brighter side it would get her out of marry Boris! Yeah getting her head cut off was the better choice, but it wasn't the choice everybody else was going with.

Ana's father nodded then turned and motioned for the guard in front of Ana too take off her hood. As soon as the guard did everybody's eyes widened and mouths fell open, and the queen just about fainted.

"Anabell!" Boris asked surprisingly.

"What---" her mother started to say.

"Explain yourself young lady!" her father roared. Ana winced at his voice.

"Momma…Daddy, these people are my friends," she confessed.

"What? But their thieves, Anabell," her mother squeaked.

"I know but I was apart of it too. I snuck out almost every night. I learned how to the sword and bow. I also attacked the castle," Ana explained looking at the ground.

Boris's eyes widened when he realized that it was his fiancée who had mocked him in his room.

"Anabell, this is your home, why would you do something like that to it…to us? This is not what a respectable lady would do," the queen said seriously.

Ana let out a short laugh, getting weird looks from everyone, and angry look from her parents.

"You know it's always about what a lady would do, always! Well what if I'm not a lady, what if I'm not meant to be one, or queen? I got sick and tired of hearing that, I was bored…I wanted a more exciting life. That's why I snuck out, and met these guys, they were nice to me and liked me for who I am. They didn't care if I was far from mature or being a lady and was different from all the other 'perfect' princesses…they excepted me. Soon enough I became friends with them. They know how to have fun, and it wasn't like we were gonna kill anyone, I wouldn't do that, and if you knew me…you'd know it too. I was in this same as them and I wasn't gonna let them get hurt, so I can down here to help them escape," Ana explained only this time she was looking her parents straight in the eyes with determination in every word.

Her parents and Boris looked shocked at what she said and were quiet for a while. Actually everyone was kind of shocked about her little speak, even Skye and the boys.

Boris broke the silence though, "Well, I for one forgive her," he said coming up to her, telling the guards to cut the rope that was around her hands, then he helped her up.

"I still agree to marry her," he said wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to his body.

Ana rolled her eyes, "_You just keep coming up with ways to get in my pants_," she though sarcastically.

The King and Queen's eyes softened, "Well you are very lucky to have a forgiving man like Boris," he mother replied.

Ana was not believing her ears, "You actually believe this shit!" she screamed in her mind.

"But—" she tried to say but her father cut her off, "No! Just go up to your room, we'll talk about this later," her father said coldly.

"But what about them?" Ana asked motioning toward her friends, fear in her eyes.

"I'll deal with them tomorrow," he answered more calmly this time.

"But what are you going to—"

"GO!" he yelled angrily at her. Ana hung her head and was escorted to her room by a guard.

Boris smiled evilly. This was turning out great for him: he still got the girl AND he was going to get to watch her friends get killed, friends that could have been all over HIS woman. Yes…yes this was turning out good indeed.

**Ana's Provo**

Once I got up to my room, I slammed the door behind me in the guard's face. God I'm so mad! How could my parents be like this! I'm not even sure what's gonna happen to my friends… but I'm not going to take any chances: I have to try to free them again. I mean what could I lose? Every body already knows the truth, and I've already lost any dignity or pride I have left. Yeah it probably is a foolish thing to do, but so was running away to the village in the first place. Then asking to hang with a group of guys with swords, but we all have to be fools every so often, don't we? Well I knew one thing…I was due.

**Normal Provo **

Ana waited till things quieted down a bit, then opened her door, but found guards outside of it.

"Fine," she breathed a little frustrated.

Ana found the rope she kept in her room and threw it over her balcony, then climbed down just like all the other times.

Once on the ground, she ran up to the side of the castle, and then bent down and took out the same bars in the window as earlier. Ana then lowered herself into it and slipped through to the other side, landing on the floor inside the dungeon with a soft thud.

This time New Found Glory wasn't asleep: they were wide-awake, talking. Tyson was the first to see Ana this time.

"Ana!" he said happily.

"We were worried about you since you got caught and everything," Max added.

"Yeah well I'm here," Ana replied.

"Ana you should probably be upstairs, if you get caught gain, you'll be in worse trouble," Kenny said.

"I'm not giving up until you'll all out of here," she replied.

"You never learn do you?" Kai asked only this time he had a smile on his face, he had to admit he was happy to see her.

Ana smiled back and shook her head. Then she grabbed the remaining bobby pin out of her hair and started to pick the cell lock again.

Finally she got it and let them out, then they all climbed back through the opened window and into the night. Once outside, Ana put the bars back.

"Hey thanks a lot, really," Ray thanked her.

"No problem, I guess you can call it pay back for all you guys did for me these past weeks," she replied smiling back at everyone. It was quiet for a minute.

"Hey you guys, umm… I don't think I'll be coming back to the village," she told them sadly.

"Wait, why!" Tyson asked.

"I shouldn't have snuck out in the first place…in the beginning. I want to obey my parents, I feel bad for going behind their backs. I really want to pay them back for my disrespect. Being queen is my destiny, and I need to focus on that," Ana explained, she could not believe this was coning out of her mouth.

Kai and Ray nodded, understanding what she meant, the others didn't quiet get it yet.

"I also need to ask one last favor of you…I ask that if you decided to attack the castle again, please…leave me out of it. I really don't need any distractions," she said guiltily looking at the ground.

Everyone was silent and really didn't know what to say.

"Please guys I'm sorry. This is hard for me to say because you guys have been so good to me and I really don't want to leave you…but I have obligations…responsibilities I need to fulfill," she said almost in a whisper, close to tears.

Kai slowly nodded, "If that's you decision, then we respect it," he replied. Ana smiled slightly.

"Thanks guys," she said giving them each a tight, long hug: last was Kai again. Ana kissed him one last time, tasting him and super gluing it into her memory so she'd never forget it.

The kissed lasted a while, but when they were done Ana whispered, "I'm really gonna miss you, too bad this couldn't have worked out," in his ear. Kai held Ana in his arms one last time before letting go, he didn't want to ever let go of her but he new he had to.

"Me too," he said gently, "but just remember I love you."

Ana was defiantly on the verge of tears now: finally someone who loved her for her and not just her body…too bad she had to let him go.

"I love you too," she breathed kissing him on the cheek.

"Just remember I'm always here if you need me, you know if Boris tries to pull any crap or somethin," Kai said slightly smiling. Ana nodded.

When finally the two of them let go of each other, Ana said goodbye to the others, "I'm gonna miss you guys, hopefully well meet again," she said.

"Ditto," replied Tyson sadly, the others nodded.

Then Ana left feeling a tear run down her cheek. She went back to the rope, climbed up it and into her room, then cried herself to sleep.

Yep that's it… cries…. It's so sad, hehehe! I'm evil! Mahahahaha! Anywayyyyyy…. Next chapter is Chapter 10: A Need to Forget and it actually pretty short I think and basically about how crappy they all feel, oooooooh fun. Thanks for reviewing and plz do it again! Love you all!


	10. A Need to Forget

Hey back! So he's the next chapter. Don't own anything. Oh and don't own the song 'Let me Go' either that is by the wonderful Three Doors Down, very cool band I like their songs a lot.

Oh and I almost forgot! IN THE LAST CHAPTER **TALA WAS CAUGHT ALONG** **WITH THE OTHERS**! OMG IM SORRY I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT HIM BEING THERE! SO YEAH I SORTA SCREWED UP THE STORY, BUT I JUST WANT TO CLEAR THAT UP NOW. THANK YOU TOO WHITELIGHTER SKYANGEL FOR NOTICING THAT! See how dumb I can be sometimes!

**Whitelighter skyangel** – ahhhh! Thank you so much for noticing that I didn't put Tala in the last chapter when they were caught! lol, and thanks for the review as always, but sadly no she won't run away with them. Actually next chapter will be a year later! So stay tuned!

**Naioka1992** – Hey thanks! I appreitate the review! And yep he's a big perv lol! I have a sick mind sometimes too lol. Thanks again and I really hope you stay tuned!

**Kaeley Mel** – Yay! I know that was probably the only good part but the story's not over…it's actually far from it. I'm hoping at least 20 chapter probably more. Thanks for the review as always!

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 10: A Need to Forget **

A couple nights later, Ana was in her room getting ready for bed when she heard people yelling outside. She walked to the huge window that let to her balcony, and pulled back the curtains. Ana saw 6 cloaked people fighting with the guards.

She smiled slightly; sort of glad to see them, she knew Tala was with them this time too. He had been fired of course when they were caught. Ana guess Hillary had let them in this time.

Ana thought about her friends: especially Kai and Tala. She really missed Kai, and missed talking to Tala. Ana wondered how her was getting by now without a job; if she knew Tala then he was doing fine. Ana had talked to Hillary couple times since they were caught but it wasn't the same without Tala there to; it was like a part of her was missing, he could always make her laugh when she was down, and right now she needed it.

Suddenly Ana saw one of the people in a cloak turn around and look up at her in her window, she quickly shut the curtains, her heat beating against her chest.

"No," she thought out loud, "no more distractions. Seeing them will only make this harder then it already is."

**New Found Glory **

"Can we go, please Kai?" Tyson begged.

"Alright, but no one goes near Ana's room," Kai replied frowning. Everyone nodded.

The group really wanted to go to the castle, mainly to see if they could even catch a glimpse at Ana and convince her to come back, even though that was unlikely. They all really missed Ana but really wanted her back at least for a little while so they didn't have to put up with Kai. Ever since she left Kai became more and more distant then usual, and a bit more grouchy and demanding as well

The group got ready and went.

When they got to the castle, the group got Hilary to let them in since Tala was now back with them. While fighting soldiers, Tyson had looked up to see a big window and in the middle of it was Ana looking down at them, her eyes mixed with emotions. But those emotions quickly disappeared when she realized Tyson was looking up at her, Ana quickly turned her head and closed the curtains.

Tyson was sort of surprised at what she did; he thought she'd be a least a little bit happy to see them. He told the guys later when they left.

"Well she did tell us she didn't want to see us anymore," Ray pointed out.

"Yeah, I wonder if she was mad? Maybe we shouldn't have went," Tala added disappointedly looking at the ground.

"Well we won't have to worry about that anymore, because that was our last attack," Kai finished frowning.

**Ana **

Ana plopped herself down on her bed.

"I really miss them," she thought out loud.Ana she did, but she knew not to get attached again, it was hard enough saying goodbye the first time, she really didn't want to do it a second time too.

After the night she was caught and helped the boys escape, her parents had given her a serious talk later and asked if she had let them go after she had gone up to her room. Ana had said that once she was sent to her room she stayed there, fortunately her parents had believed her.

Ana knew what she had to do now: she was going to be queen; end of fairy tale. She was going to do her best and earn back her dignity and her parents trust she would pay them back for her disrespect. She would make them proud.

Ana decided she would start by no complaining about etiquette classes, even though she still hated them with a passion. She would have to force herself to like them. Ana also knew she was marrying Boris, and would never see Kai again, she would do it for her parents. Ana knew there was no point in arguing and fighting anymore anyway, she had been fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win from the beginning. So why didn't she give up in the first place then, to save herself the trouble? Ana was way too stubborn too, and now it was costing her: big time. Now all the emotions rush to her, but she couldn't change the past. Basically Ana had lost all faith in herself. She was going to be Queen and get married to an idiot in a year--- that was that.

Ana dragged herself over to the window to see her friends for the last time. When she looked out in to the night, the group had just started to leave and was disappearing into the night. Suddenly one of the cloaked figures that were in the back of the group turned around and looked up at her. Even though it was dark and they all had hoods over they're heads, Ana knew in her heart that that was Kai looking back at her; saying goodbye for the last time. She felt a tear roll down her face as she watched.

"_I really don't know if you understand Kai_," she thought.

Ana opened the doors to her balcony and walked out into the cool night breeze, her long white hair and nightgown gently blowing with the wind. She made her way to the railing and sat down on it; back facing the castle grounds but head turned so she could see them.

As she watched them go, Ana opened her mouth and sang her guts out, singing what was on her mind, and spilling out all her emotions and choking up all feelings.

(This is such a good song; you should read it carefully. It really makes since and related to what Ana is thinking about and going through. Oh and she's thinking about Kai when she sings this!)

One more kiss could be the best thing  
But one more lie could be the worst  
And all these thoughts are never resting  
And you're not something I deserve

In my head there's only you now  
This world falls on me  
In this world there's real and make believe  
And this seems real to me

_Chorus_  
You love me but you don't know who I am  
I'm torn between this life I lead and where I stand  
And you love me but you don't know who I am  
So let me go  
Let me go

I dream ahead to what I hope for  
And I turn my back on loving you  
How can this love be a good thing  
When I know what I'm goin through

In my head there's only you now  
This world falls on me  
In this world there's real and make believe  
And this seems real to me

_Chorus_  
You love me but you don't know who I am  
I'm torn between this life I lead and where I stand  
You love me but you don't know who I am  
So let me go   
Just Let me goo...  
Let me go

And no matter how hard I try  
I can't escape these things inside I know  
I knowww..  
When all the pieces fall apart  
You will be the only one who knows  
Who knows

_Chorus_  
You love me but you don't know who I am  
I'm torn between this life I lead and where I stand  
And you love me but you don't know Who I am  
So let me go  
Just let me go

And you love me but you don't  
You love me but you don't  
You love me but you don't know who I am  
And you love me but you don't  
You love me but you don't  
You love me but you don't know me

**New Found Glory **

Kai stopped and turned around; he thought he had heard something. Sure enough, when he turned he saw a small figure in the distance, sitting on the railing to a balcony singing. Kai knew it was Ana and he could faintly hear her voice as it carried in the wind. He stopped to listen for a while, she was a beautiful singer he thought, and when he listened to her voice his whole body relaxed and he felt a sense of peace wash over him, something he hadn't felt for a while. Soon enough he found himself wanting her even more then he already did, and it was driving him crazy that he couldn't have her. He turned to leave just as her singing ended before he would lose control and run back to the castle to claim her.

I'm done finally. So that was chapter 10 hope you liked! Wasn't that a good song I love that song, anyone ever heard it before? Anyway next chapter is chapter 11: Not the Same Anymore (part 1. Yes there are 2 parts to it) they're pretty long. This chapter will be a year later when Ana is older and ready to be queen and get married to the monkey! Yay for her. Anyway the guys decided to see her again only thins time they're under cover as waiters to a party lol. Don't miss it ;) plz review luv u all!

Oh before I forget I'm going out of town again for a week. Im not leaving for another week but this next chapter will probably be long so I can't promise that it will be done before I leave. But I would really appreitate if you kept checking for me! Thanks!


	11. Not the Same Anymore Part 1

Hey ok so down to business…don't own beybalde. Yeah and I did get this chapter finished before my trip YAY! Sooooo that means the next chapter won't be up for a while.

**Whitelighter skyangel** – Thanks I really like the song too! Yep that is a wonderful name for Boris! He just reminds me of a monkey sometimes… thanks for wishing me fun on my trip!

**Kaely Me**l – hey thanks glad you liked it! I thought it was pretty sad too :'(

Glad you enjoyed the room raiders fic too!

**JusticeDream** – Naughty, naughty! lol just kidding! I'm glad you got the chance to read and review! I'm also happy you enjoyed it that much too! YAY my stories are emotional powerful! That was what I was going for…

THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING YOU GUYS!

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 11: Not the Same Anymore Part 1 **

**1 year later **

"Would you look at this, Ana's finally becoming queen," Ray said taking down a piece of paper, which was nailed to a tree that he was looking at.

"I miss her," Tyson said sadly.

"Same here," Max and Kenny added.

"Well we could go to the pre-party," Tala suggested shrugging. They all looked at him.

"How do you know there's a pre-party?" Tyson asked suspiciously.

Tala shrugged again, "Hillary told me, its tonight," he answered.

"Can we go?" Max asked Kai who just stood there silently.

"Oh common, we all know you miss her more then anyone here. Lets just go see her," Tyson begged.

Kai sighed looking defeated, "Yeah ok, but, she is not to see anyone. She'd be really mad if she knew we were there," he answered.

Ana 

Ana was getting ready for her big party.

"I'm nervous," she told Mariah shakily as the pink haired girl put up Ana's hair into a ponytail, letting the long bangs at the sides of her face hang down.

"Just remember what you've learned in history class, I mean that's mainly what everyone's gonna talk about--- land and money," Mariah laughed.

"Yeah your right," Ana said slipping on her teara.

These next two days would be the biggest days in Ana's life. Tonight she was having her first huge formal party in her name, and tomorrow she was going to become queen THEN right after get married to a monkey.

Ana still couldn't believe she was going to marry Boris, although she had gotten used to him touching her, she still didn't want to spent the rest of her life with him. But she promised herself a long time ago that she would do it for her parents, since about a year ago she was caught trying to help her friends escape. These days she tried hard to forget them and not to think about them, and worked really hard since that day to be perfect. All Ana had to go was to get through these next few days, easy…right?

"There, you look great, and god luck again. Now you'd better get down there," Mariah said giving her a nudge toward the bedroom door.

Ana nodded brushing the dust off her long red, strapless dress. "Here we go," she sighed as she opened the door and headed down stairs were people were already there, and had started the party.

New Found Glory 

A New Found Glory had no trouble getting into the castle, but the hard part was finding the kitchen, which took then awhile. Their plan was to act as waiters, serve people at the party and hopefully see Ana.

When they finally found the kitchen it was easy blending in because there were so many people in that room running around cooking food and grabbing trays and heading out the door to the main room were all the people were.

Each of the boys grabbed a tray that was waiting to be served and then walked out the kitchen door.

Oust side the kitchen, the boys saw a whole bunch of people dressed up and talking in big groups. There was also a chandelier in the middle of the ceiling and two thrones in the room as well. The guys guessed it was most likely the throne room.

"Ok, meet up at the gates in an hour, and remember, Ana doesn't see anyone. This is her party and we don't want to screw t up by causing a commotion, got it?" Kai ordered firmly, everyone nodded.

"Good," Kai said and each of then split off into different directions.

Ana 

Ana was at the top of the main stairs, looking down at all the people, which didn't help how nervous she already was.

"_Great, even better_," she thought.

Ana started down the stairs and when she got to the bottom, a couple of people turned around and congratulated her. Ana just put on a fake smile and thanked them.

Max 

When the group had split up, Max had went by the stairs.

He had only been standing there 5 minutes asking people around him if they wanted anything that was on his tray, when Ana come down the stairs. Max turned his head a bit so she wouldn't see his face.

"_Well she's still pretty_," Max thought. He could see that Ana had matured a bit body wise at least; she had grown a little taller and her figure was defiantly filled out all the way now. Max also noticed that Ana looked nervous, and that her smile was completely fake.

"_Still the same Ana under all that_," he thought laughing.

Ana 

Ana was making her way forward, and still saying thank you to the people who complemented to her.

Ana reached over and took a toothpick that had fruit on it, off of a tray that a read-haired waiter was holding, his back to her.

She plopped the food into her mouth, "Mmmm," she thought smiling, that was defiantly want she needed.

Tala 

Tala was holding his tray and letting people pick from it, when he saw Ana coming his way from the stairs. He turned so his back would be facing her when she passed. As she did though, Ana grabbed a piece of fruit from his tray.

Tala froze, but Ana didn't say anything, she just kept walking forward, smiling as she chewed her food, obviously enjoying it.

"Holy shit, that was close," Tala thought watching her leave.

**Ana **

Ana made her way to were her parents were, they were talking to an old couple when she came up to them.

Ana waited until they were finished talking then walked up and hugged the king and queen.

"Momma, Daddy, thank you for the party," she said.

Her mother smiled, "Your quite welcome," she said.

"What else could we do for you, I mean your becoming queen and getting married tomorrow, this is a time to celebrate," the king bellowed.

Ana's face fell, "_Oh yeah, almost forgot… damn it_," she thought but still smiled to her father.

**Ray **

Ray had been serving his food near the king and queen, when he saw Ana coming towards him. She looked like she hadn't changed much, except for her body, which had matured and was more filled out, Ray noticed. He put a little distance between him and the king and queen and sort of hid behind his tray.

Ray listened to Ana and her parents. Ray could tell she wasn't too happy, especially after they mentioned the wedding tomorrow, yet Ana kept up her smile which Ray could tell was fake, he could see disappointment in her eyes.

"That sucks," he thought.

**Ana **

Ana was making her way across the room greeting all her guests, when she bumped into a little waiter with brown hair.

"Oh, excuse me," Ana apologized.

The little brown haired waiter didn't say anything, he just looked scared, nervous, and then he started to sweat, he kept his back to Ana and ran off.

"_Ok…what's his deal?"_ she thought.

**Kenny **

Kenny was looking for Ana, but it was a little hard for him since he was smaller then the people around him, even when he jumped. Kenny had decided to come this time but now he was thinking twice.

"Ok this is a waste of time, everyone's taller then me and I can't see a thing," he complained.

Just then someone bumped into him, but before he could turn around to see who it was, the person said 'excuse me'. It was Ana and Kenny recognized her voice, so he didn't turn around.

"_Oh crap, I hope she doesn't recognize me_," Kenny thought.

Kenny was sweating now, he was scared. He didn't want to be seen, if Kai knew…Kenny couldn't even imagine what Kai would do to him. Thinking about it made him sweat even more.

Kenny looked around, then dashed in the other direction, "_That was close,"_ he thought.

**Ana **

Ana walked past a group of people older then her who was talking, but they stopped her.

"Princess you look beautiful tonight,' one of them said.

Ana rolled her eyes then put on her fake smile before she turned around to face the group of people. "Thank you, and might I say that all of you are looking your best tonight as well?" she said.

They smiled back, "So polite," one of them pointed out approvingly.

"Yes, too bad all the princesses can't be like you," another person said.

Ana mentally rolled her eyes, "_Suck ups_," she thought.

"Yes, it does seem like all of the younger generations are lacking in manners these days," someone else said.

"I hear it has something to do with there money," another one added almost whispering.

They all nodded.

"_Guess it's may turn to act suck-upish and to gossip about people I don't know_," Ana thought, lacking enthusiasm.

Soon the group started talking about the money of the land; Ana made sure she was in on it all. She really didn't want to be left in the dark and make a fool of herself. Normal she wouldn't care what other people thought but she had changed some in the past year. Ana still had her smart ass attitude but kept it too herself; now she was a bit more responsible, reliable, and civilized, just what everyone wanted…except her, but she threw out her needs and wants a long time ago.

Talking about the land and money become pretty easy after a while since she had actually been paying attention in history class lately.

Soon Boris came over behind her and put his arm around her waist.

"Beg our pardon, Anabell, but may I please have a word with you?" he asked as her kissed her ear.

Ana sighed, "Thank you all for coming and have a good time, now if you'll excuse me…" she said to the group she had been talking to.

They nodded smiling their good-byes.

Boris linked arms with Ana and they walked away.

**Tyson **

Tyson had been standing in the same spot severing food, and once and a while sneaking food off his tray to eat himself.

Suddenly he saw Ana and hid behind his tray and a couple of people as well. Ana walked by a group of people, but when they said something to her she stopped. Tyson noticed she rolled her eyes and put on a fake smile before turning around to talk to them.

"_This is boring_," Tyson thought as the group kept talking to Ana about stuff he didn't understand. What he couldn't understand though was why Ana was in on it all too. It was stuff about money and land, and she was actually following along and responding to it all.

"I thought she didn't like history," he thought. Ana was being so polite too, which confused Tyson even more.

"_This defiantly isn't Ana. Great, aliens took her! God what the hell did they do to her!"_ Tyson thought. It finally acquired to him that Ana had changed in the past year, maybe not totally in appearance, (although Tyson did notice he filled out figure) but in personality. Ana didn't really look like she was enjoying herself though…so what was she doing? Maybe there was a little of the old Ana left under all that.

"_God, I'll never understand women_," Tyson thought rubbing his head.

Soon Boris came over and put his arm around Ana and then kissed her ear.

"Oh this is gonna be good! Ana's gonna explode!" Tyson thought getting excited for the action to come, or so he thought, because it never came. When Ana actually let Boris touch her, Tyson's face fell and he felt like he was going to hurl.

"_Ok, now I defiantly know Ana has changed, the real Ana wouldn't let that creep touch her like that. I'm goin back to my theory about the aliens. Kai would flip if he saw this..." _he thought walking off

**Ana **

Boris led Ana a little ways from the group of people she was talking to, and then he stopped.

"So, I'm assuming everything is ready for the wedding tomorrow?" Boris asked smiling at her.

Ana nodded.

"Good, can't have anything go wrong on our big day," Boris said squeezing on her arm as he said this.

Ana mentally rolled her eyes, "_What a load of bull shit_," she thought.

It was silent for a minute until Boris said, "Lets dance, ok?" but he didn't exactly ask her he pretty much ordered her too. She didn't have much of a choice anyway because as soon as he said this he wrapped this arm around her waist and lead her toward the dance floor.

One the way over to the dance floor though, Boris lowered his hand that was around her waist, grabbing her butt. Ana thought for sure was going to blow a fuse, but instead she took a deep breath before grabbing his hand and putting it back u toward her waist.

Once they were in the middle of the floor, Boris took Ana by the hand and they started to slow dance. Everyone around them spread out to form a large circle to watch the couple dance.

Boris was looking into Ana's eyes; she stared back, trying to see through him, read him. But it didn't work; they were foggy and full of mischief. Ana didn't like it; it made her uneasy and uncomfortable that she couldn't understand him. His eyes bore into hers, drilling holes in her head, they were really starting to scare her now, she turned her attention away, and let her mind wonder to something else.

Ana, for some reason got the urge to really dance, not slow dance, but to go wild and just dance and be herself. Not with Boris but with Kai or someone. She remembered doing that with Kai at the pub and missed it that was one of the best nights of her life; she had had so much fun that night. Ana hadn't done that for a while: just be wild and be yourself, have fun. In the past year she hadn't been herself, she had been acting like some stuck up bitch, and now she could feel something inside her wanting out, but she fought it back down until it was gone. Ana couldn't let that happen, she was so close to being the perfect daughter and wife, she wasn't about to blow it. She had spent a year improving herself, and she wasn't about to let it all go to waste by a tiny little, stupid urge.

Once the slow song was over, the crowd clapped, but Boris got caught up in it and liked the attention, so to get more her leaned down and kissed Ana hard on the lips, a little too hard.

Ana was taken back a bit, and her lips were starting to hurt; he was kissing her way too hard. Once she gained control of her body though, she gentle pushed him off, knowing if she used force or anger it would on turn him on. She learned that the hard way over the year, it never work to well for her.

"Please don't, ok?" she said.

Boris stopped, looking sort of confused.

"I'm uh, going to get a drink," Ana said walking off to the nearest waiter that had wine on their tray, unfortunately for Ana, Boris followed.

Ana took the fancy wineglass off of a tray, and started to take a sip.

Boris came up to her, "Hey angel, what's wrong," he asked. Ana shook her head.

"Well what ever it is, I'm sure I can make it better, just follow me," Boris said nudging her to the way of the stairs. When she didn't come though, he just kissed her again. Boris put both his arms around her and tightened his grip, kissing her neck.

"Don't," Ana said wiggling under his firm grip when he didn't stop.

She was getting pretty sick of him kissing and touching her all the time. Once she had had enough she stared pushing on him, "Boris I said knock it off!" She told him. Screw politeness this was getting old. Out of all the things she learned over the year, she never really fully mastered controlling her temper.

Boris stopped and let go of her looking annoyed.

"You want to know what wrong?" Ana finally said, "That's what's wrong: You touching and kissing me all the time, and when I tell you to stop you ignore me! I'm not you toy, and we're NOT married yet!" she said angrily.

Boris just smiled which made Ana's blood boil dangerously high; she was so close to attacking him.

"No you're right: we're not, yet. And when we are; you'll be mine." He whispered in her ear.

This sent suddenly chills up Ana's spine, she tried to cover it up though by giving Boris a dirty look, but really she was terrified. Ana didn't want Boris to know she was scared to death of him sometimes, if he knew he would use it to his advantage. He was right though: tomorrow, once they were married, she was his property, something else he owned. As hard as she could try, there was nothing she could do about it, and that's what scared her the most.

Boris kept smiling evilly at her and then walked off.

Wooohooo! I finished another chapter before I left! But I can guarantee I won't be done this the next chapter until I get back, sorry. The next chapter though is called Not the Same Anymore part 2. It just continues from the party, this time though its Kai's turn to see her for the first time in a year. After that though it's about how Ana feels and about all the pressure coming down on her and so she comes up with a suicidal plan! Mahahaha! I'm so evil! I'll just leave it at that. Anyway please review and I'll see you all in about 2 weeks! I think 2 weeks… MUCH LOVE!


	12. Not the Same Anymore Part 2

Hey I'm back! Sorry it took so long! But really I'm back and it's on to the next chapie! 

If you haven't guessed yet I don't own beyblade or the song 'Perfect' with Simple Plan owns, they're a good band. Hope you like!

**Innocent skyangel 173** – Thanks for the review and that sucks big time that it deleted all of your stories! I really liked that growing up one too…!

**Kaely Mel**- Yeah it is really hard, I agree. Ana's trying though lol. Boris is an evil monkey! lol thanks for the review!

**JusticeDream**- thanks, aww you missed me yay! Yeah she's changed… well at least a little; she's really the same inside especially in her head (well when she's mad at least.) It's gonna take some time to find herself again, but right now…yeah she's screwed.

Just Wanna Be Me 

**Chapter 12: Not the Same Anymore Part 2 **

Ana was getting really nervous now, she had no idea what was going to happen after tomorrow, she bite her lower lip nervously. Ana drank the rest of her wine in one big gulp, which was pretty much the whole glass. It took a minute for the liquid to go down but once it did she felt strangely better, a little dizzy but better. Ana wanted another glass but the waiter that was just there had took off so she went to the nearest waiter with wine, put the empty glass on the tray and grabbed a full glass. The girl the headed up the stair to her room, tonight she was cutting her party short. Kai 

Kai watched as Boris led Ana across the room, he got closer went they stopped to see what they were saying. Kai watched as they talked but didn't pay much attention; he was too busy staring at Ana. He noticed she didn't look much different from what he could tell except for her height and her body that was more filled out: something that defiantly turned him on. The more Kai stared at her though, the more he realized how much he missed her in the past year, and how much he wished he were Boris right about now. Boris didn't deserve Ana, he did. Kai was much nicer and respected Ana more the Boris ever will. Unfortunately that's not how life goes; it's not always fair and you just have to deal with it sometimes. Kai and his friends knew this better then anyone after their families died, they were young and didn't deserve to lose their parents but it happened anyway. Kai guessed he was used to dealing with it by now but for some reason he couldn't deal with, or get over the fact that an asshole like Boris got the girl like Ana.

Boris said something about the wedding and Kai saw Ana nod even though he could tell she was annoyed. Boris then asked Ana to dance and led her to the dance floor.

On the way there, Boris grabbed Ana's butt. This made Kai extremely mad and something inside him clicked to protective mode. He soon calmed down though when Ana moved his hand back up to her waist again.

"_Still has her limits_," Kai thought smiling.

Boris and Ana started to dance while Kai watched not too happy wit what was happening in front of him. Everyone made a circle around them and watched too.

Kai noticed that Ana looked like she wasn't really enjoying herself.

"Well a lot of things have changed, but one thing that never will is her hatred for Boris," Kai laughed to himself.

When the song ended, Ana and Boris stopped dancing, and the crowd clapped for the young couple. Kai then watched as Boris made yet another move on Ana, he kissed her…again.

Kai could fells jealousy raising in his throat, and it was coming up fast… he could kill Boris right now. He calmed down though when Ana pushed Boris off.

"Horny bastard," Kai thought tightening his fists.

Suddenly Ana started coming his way, he quickly turned his back on her hoping she wouldn't recognize him. All Ana did though, to Kai's relief, is take a wineglass off his tray just as Boris came over.

Once Ana had taken her glass, Kai silently walked off to put distance between him and Ana. Kai spotted a pillar close by and hide behind it so he could listen to what they were saying.

Boris started talking to Ana and asked her what was wrong. When she shook he head, Boris kissed her again only this time it was all over.

"_This is getting pretty old_," Kai thought angrily.

Then Ana started to tell Boris to stop, which of course he didn't. This time Kai didn't feel jealously, but anger, and lots of it, raising in his throat.

"_Get the fuck off of her_!" he screamed in his mind. Kai was really going to kill him now…slowly and painfully.

Then finally Ana had had enough and blew up at him.

When she was done, Boris just smiled at her and said that once they were married, she was his. Ana gave Boris a dirty look, but Kai could see in Ana's eyes that she was terrified of what was going to happen. It took all of his self- control not to turn around and beat the living hell out of Boris right then and there. Kai wanted to beat him up then hold Ana and tell her everything would be alright; he wanted to hold her again in his arms and feel her warmth and her body on his. Kai knew he couldn't though, and it killed him. He left for the kitchen before he blew his cover.

Kai put the tray back in the kitchen and started out the way he had come in. Once outside he started for the front gate where he was suppose to meet the rest of the group. When he got there, no one was there yet, Kai knew he was a little early so he sat down on the nearest rock and started thinking of what is next plan of action would be.

Ana 

By the time Ana had drug herself up the stairs, she was feeling a little dizzy. She grabbed the railing to keep herself from falling backwards and slowly made her way to her room.

Once there she shut the door behind her and walked over to the balcony doors and opened them, letting a fresh, cool, night breeze blow past her. The breeze filled her room making it smell fresh and rustled the curtains that were hanging on the huge window door that they were connected to.

Ana breathed in the fresh air making her feel a little less dizzy, and walked on to her balcony where she set the wineglass beside her on the railing and leaned on the railing too.

She took another big gulp of her wine, and waited till it roughly made it's way down her throat, it sent another wave of dizziness to her head. Ana knew she shouldn't drink this much at once since it was the very heavy and expensive wine, but every time she took a big drink, she felt like she was washing all her troubles away, something that she desperately wanted to happen right now.

Ana looked up at the dark sky and it's stars. She sighed, she was under so much stress because of the stupid ceremony tomorrow when she would become queen. Yes, her birthday had come and past, and now she was ready to take on the responsibility of a whole kingdom, it would all be in her hands tomorrow… which in her opinion meant disaster. Then there was the wedding right after.

"_Why couldn't it have been like a week after the crowing so I could at least get the hang of being queen, instead of having it all come crashing down on me in day?_!" she thought angrily.

Actually that was Boris's doing of course. He wanted to be married right after the crowing, ASAP.

"Yay for me," Ana said sarcastically.

Her parents wanted her to be perfect – have a husband, be a perfect wife and queen, have a perfect kingdom…but that really wasn't going to happen, Ana was far from perfect. She'd done her best but it always seems it's not enough and that they always expect more.

Just then she thought of Tala, Hillary, and Mariah.

"_They were the only ones that were always there for me. Too bad I haven't talked to Tala in a while since he was kicked out. I miss him though…wait…kicked out…A New_ Found _Glory…Kai…"_ she thought and it all come flooding back to her, tears stung her eyes as she bit her lower lip.

Her friends…she missed them so much, they had so much fun together. The day she ran away and met them was the day she really found herself, she'll never forget how they helped her do that. She especially missed Kai of course and hated being apart from him for so long. Ana wanted to be with him rather them Boris.

Ana violently shook her head, "_No,_" she told herself firmly, "_that's the past, I'm not going to dwell on that, it's stupid and not important. I have a future to worry about_," she thought. But she couldn't make herself let go of it all, it was hard to forget all of those memories.

Ana felt a tear go down her cheek as she finished the rest of her wine in one big sip.

When she was done, Ana just stared carelessly at the empty glass she was holding, for a couple minutes. Then she opened her hand and let the glass fall from her room to the ground with a bored expression on her face.

Ana watched as the glass came in contact with the hard ground and shatter into a million pieces. This suddenly gave her an idea.

Ana slipped off the shoes she was wearing and as gracefully as she could, climbed on the railing so that she was now standing on top of it looking down at the ground below her.

The girl's toes curled around the cold, metal railing. She lifted her hands out to her sides: all she had to do was let herself fall and she wouldn't have to worry about any ceremonies, crazy husbands, or haunting memories.

Ana looked up at the sky again and closed her eyes. She took a huge breath and thought about letting herself fall, one more time. Images came flooding to her, and she saw pictures flashing before her closed eyes. Boris. Mariah. Hillary. Skye. Tala. Tyson. Max. Kenny. Ray. Kai. Suddenly the last picture stopped in front of her eyes; it was her parents, they were smiling right back at her.

That was who she was doing all of this for: not her, or the kingdom; it was for her parents because that's what they wanted. Sure, they didn't know what a jerk Boris was but they were doing what they thought was best for Ana, to make her happy and Ana respected their efforts so she would give them what they wanted in return… a perfect daughter.

Ana had promised herself she would do this for them no matter what. She could adjust to this life to make them happy, and to make up for what she had done a year ago. She would be the best she could be. Ana couldn't be perfect but she would try.

Ana's eyes snapped open.

"_What am I doing_," she thought, "_this is stupid, I should be resting or something for the big day tomorrow_."

She climbed down from the balcony, got ready for bed, then laid down thinking still. Ana couldn't fall asleep though; it made her mad now thinking about what her parent's excepted from her and how she's tries all the time but it always seems like they want more from her. . She was still going to follow through with everything; it just made her mad is all.

To work off her frustration and to get it out of her head before she changed her mind about everything, Ana grabbed the notebook she wrote all her songs in, (which had the previous on in it all well) grabbed a pen, then walked out onto the balcony again and sat down on the railing, and started writing.

(This is also a good song! Read it carefully, it makes since. Oh and remember she's thinking about her parents when she writes this.)

Hey dad look at me  
Think back and talk to me  
Did I grow up according to plan?  
And do you think I'm wasting my time doing things I wanna do?  
But it hurts when you disapprove all along

And now I try hard to make it  
I just want to make you proud  
I'm never gonna be good enough for you  
I can't pretend that  
I'm alright  
And you can't change me

'Cuz we lost it all  
Nothing lasts forever  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect  
Now it's just too late and  
We can't go back  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect

I try not to think  
About the pain I feel inside  
Did you know you used to be my hero?  
All the days you spent with me  
Now seem so far away  
And it feels like you don't care anymore

And now I try hard to make it  
I just want to make you proud  
I'm never gonna be good enough for you  
I can't stand another fight  
And nothing's alright

'Cuz we lost it all  
Nothing lasts forever  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect  
Now it's just too late and  
We can't go back  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect

Nothing's gonna change the things that you said  
Nothing's gonna make this right again  
Please don't turn your back  
I can't believe it's hard  
Just to talk to you  
But you don't understand

'Cuz we lost it all  
Nothing lasts forever  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect  
Now it's just too late and  
We can't go back  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect

'Cuz we lost it all  
Nothing lasts forever  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect  
Now it's just too late and  
We can't go back  
I'm sorry  
I can't be perfect

Max, Tyson, Ray, Tala, and Kenny finally came walking out of the castle and to their meeting spot where they saw Kai already there sitting on a rock, deep in thought.

The arriving boys were still talking about their night.

"She's changed so much," Ray said sadly.

"Yeah I know, she talked to a group of people about history! I thought she hated history," Tyson replied throwing up his hands looking a bit confused.

"Yeah, she even let Boris touch her," Tala pointed out.

"I miss the old Ana," Kenny muttered.

"Yeah me too, I want our really friend back," Max added. They all nodded.

Kai looked up from where he was sitting, "We all do. And I've got a plan to give her one last chance to figure out who she really wants to be," he replied starting each one of the boys in the eyes.

A smile slowly spread across everyone's face.

"Now we're talkin! So what's the plan?" Tyson asked evilly.

Kai smiled, "Here's what we're gonna do…"

Alright! That took a while. Next chapter is chapter 13: Preparations. And it's about the day of the ceremonies and what happens before then. Hope you liked it and please review! Oh and if anyone cares I revised my story A New Friend, except it's not called that anymore it's called . It sucked so I changed stuff around if anyone wants to read it, but go easy on me plz…it was my first story lol.


	13. Preperations

Hey thanks for all the reviews! Glad you guys like the song. Ok next! Don't own anything, even though I secretly wish I did…

**JusticeDream**- Yes I am back! lol thanks, I'm glad I am loved. I really like that song too, simple plan is awesome! lol , it is a same that no one can hear I though, your right… but I'm glad you enjoy this story and thanks!

**Kaely Mel** - Yes! I totally agree no one can be perfect, everybody is pressured to be though. Thanks for the review as always!

**Innocent Skyangel73** – Hey thanks! I'm really sorry about your stories though, that really sucks, but as soon as you rewrite them let me know and I'm gonna finish 'Growing Up'.

**Naioka 1992**- Glad you like the story! And I'm sorry for the late update. Thank you though!

**Just Wanna Be Me **

**Chapter 12: Preparations **

Mariah walked into Ana's room the next morning and went straight to the curtains that covered her two large windows in front of the girl's bed. Mariah pulled them back reveling the bright morning sun, which shone right on the sleeping princess.

Ana stirred and wrinkled her face up, then rolled over.

Mariah laughed, " Common Ana, got to get up, today's your big day, remember?" she asked. Ana rolled over again and groaned.

"_Duh I remember. How could I forget the day I enter hell_, she thought.

Ana opened her eyes to stare at the wall across from her.

"Common babe, get up," Mariah said again. When Ana didn't budge Mariah walked over to her and sat next to her on the bed, so Ana's back was facing her.

"Hey what's wrong," the pink haired girl asked rubbing Ana's back.

Ana sighed and hesitated before saying, "Mari, I'm not ready for this, I can't do it. I'm pretty sure I can handle the queen job but not the wedding," she frowned.

Mariah just smiled, "Don't worry. Your just nervous, it's totally normal, everyone gets that way before they get married. I mean I can defiantly understand why your saying it though with the crowning AND your wedding, But really, it's just nerves, you can do it," she said gently.

Ana sighed, "Ok Mariah, maybe your right. I just need to relax I guess," she answered.

"That's the spirit, now let's get you up and down to breakfast on time," Mariah replied getting up off the bed.

Ana nodded and dragged herself out of bed, then slipped on something plain and simple, and then went down to breakfast.

On the way down to breakfast, Ana saw people scrambling about trying to make the finishing touches to things so that the 2 ceremonies would be perfect.

"_God, why is everyone about perfectionism in this house!_" Ana thought.

Even though some people had a lot of things to do or in their hands and obviously very busy, they still stopped when Ana passed and bowed, low to her. Ana just politely smiled and nodded, then once they left she would make a weird face. "_Poor people are going to be ruled by me in a couple hours," _she thought

Once she came to the dinning room, Ana saw her parents, Skye, and Boris sitting at the table waiting for her. When they all saw her come in they stood put together. Ana slowly came in, staring at them.

"_Ok sure,"_ she thought.

Ana walked to her seat, which was next to Boris and sat down. As soon as she was seated, everybody else sat down too. Boris then leaned over and gave Ana a short kiss and smiled. Ana's parents were also smiling at her.

"We're so proud of you Anabell, your finally a young lady; something you have proved to us countless times in the past year," her mother beamed. The king nodded in agreement.

Ana felt a wave of victory and happiness go through her. This is what she had wanted and worked to achieve throughout the whole year: to make her parents proud of her and to earn back her dignity.

Things got even better when Skye reached over the table and took Ana's hand in her's and gave her a warm 'I'm hear for you too' smile. Ana smiled back.

But of course Boris ruined it when he reached behind her and put an arm around her waist, moving her closer to him.

"_Does he think he's making me feel good or is it for himself?"_ Ana thought rolling her eyes and letting go of Skye, who was trying her best to stifle down her giggles.

The family then started breakfast. All through the meal though Boris kept touching Ana; he would but his hand on her knee and inch by inch he would slip it up her thigh. Ana got pissed with him quickly and would constantly have to push his hand back down before it got too far up.

After breakfast was over, Ana quickly got up before Boris could ouch her again and went up to her room to start getting ready for the fist part of her nightmare.

When Ana got to her room, she got her robe and was going to get her bath ready when Mariah came in.

"Hey Ana your parents wanted me to give you this for your bath," she said showing Ana a couple of bottles of perfume, shampoo, and body soap.

"You get to choose out of these," Mariah continued.

Ana smiled and smelt each one: there was a bottle of shampoo that smelt like strawberries, another one smelt like vanilla, and the last smelt like roses. Each bottle had body soap and perfume to match it.

"Hmmm, I'm gonna go with strawberries, what do you think?" she asked Mariah.

Mariah smiled, "Excellent choice."

After the choosing was done, Mariah helped Ana get her bath ready, then gave her the strawberry shampoo and body soap, then left the princess to her business.

Once Mariah left, Ana got undressed then slowly lowered herself into the warm water.

Ana sat down in the tub and relaxed. She didn't really think about anything this time, she just sort of emptied her mind and closed her eyes.

"_It feels so good to just relax and not think about anything, especially the future. To bad I can't just lie her forever,"_ she thought.

Ana let a moan escape her lips as she settled down in the water more. After a good solid 30 minutes of relaxation, she opened the bottles of shampoo and body soap that smelt like strawberries and began to clean herself.

Once she was done, Ana stayed in there for 10 more minutes before finally getting out, drying herself off, putting on her white silk robe, and walking back to her room.

Ana was only in her room 5 minutes before Mariah walked in carrying Ana's dress she was to wear to both ceremonies.

"Your dress just came in, here you go," Mariah said lying the dress on the girl's bed.

Ana walked over to it and started to run her finger's over it and studying it. It was a beautiful, white, flowing dress, with an open back and tied around the neck. It was very nice and Ana liked it, but it really wasn't a wedding dress in her option. Yes, having it for the crowning would be nice but not a wedding. Having the local tailor make a wedding dress would have taken longer and that's not what Boris wanted; he wanted the wedding to be as soon as possible. So…Ana got a simple dress for 2 of the most important days of her life. She felt bad for complaining but can't a girl ask for a wedding dress on her wedding day? Boris wouldn't even let her pick out wedding decorations that she liked because that would take too long! All they were going to do was change a few things around after the crowning to get ready for the wedding. Maybe it doesn't matter to some people what their wedding looks like but Ana really wanted hers to be special; she already had to marry a monkey, the least they could to was let her pick out a nice dress and some decorations she liked. Yeah it was a pretty shitty wedding plan, but again Ana had no say in it even it was her wedding too; Boris pretty much already took over everything anyway. Over the past year though Ana learned that to be a good lady you just gotta keep your mouth shut, look pretty and let the men do all the work. That was not how she rolled though unfortunately.

"Thanks Mari," Ana said looking up at the pink haired girl.

It was quite for a minute. Ana just started at her dress until she finally remembered something.

"Oh Mari, I almost forgot. I have something to show you," she said walking over to her closet and pulling something out.

It was a beautiful, silky, pale brown dress that had spaghetti straps. Ana laid it on the bed next to he other one.

"Ana that's great! Boris finally let you have another dress, "Mariah said touching the silky fabric, "it's beautiful."

Ana smiled looking down at the dress, "Yeah it is…but it's not mine… it's yours," she said smiling at Mariah.

The pink haired girl looked up at Ana, shocked, "Your kidding. Me?" she asked.

Ana nodded, "Yeah you," she laughed.

Mariah's face lit up, "Oh my god, are you serious…but why?" the girl beamed.

The princess smiled, "Mari you deserve it! You've always been there for me, through all of this. Your given me a shoulder to cry on, advice, and cheered me up. I really appreciate what you've done and I know I've said thank you about a million times but I wanted to get you this too. I want you to look gorgeous today, wear any jewelry or shoes of mine you want. I've already talked with my parents about it, and they were happy to let you wear it, "she explained.

Mariah looked at Ana, she looked like she would cry from happiness, "Ana I… I don't know what to say," Mariah managed to squeak.

Ana shook her head, "You don't need to say anything, you've done enough for me, this is my way of paying you back," she answered.

Mariah started at the beautiful dress some more, taking it all in.

"Quite staring at it and let's get you changed into it!" Ana laughed, then picked up the dress and dragged Mariah into the bathroom, pushing her and the dress in there and shutting the door.

When Mariah came out she was wearing the long beautiful pale brown dress. Ana was waiting by the door.

"Mari you look gorgeous!" Ana exclaimed.

Mariah twirled around, "You think?" she asked looking down at herself.

"See for yourself," Ana smiled motioning over toward a large mirror.

Mariah walked over to it and looked at herself in the mirror. "I don't believe it, it doesn't even look like me," she mused.

"Sure it does. Mariah you've always been this beautiful," Ana said walking up to the pink haired girls side so her reflection was right by Mariah's, "but it's not over yet."

Ana helped Mariah pick out some high heel shoes, then she helped her pick out jewelry, which was a diamond necklace and a matching bracelet; Ana helped her put those things on as well. Next Ana put Mariah's hair into a bun with silver chopsticks that had diamonds in the middle. Mariah then picked out the rose scented perfume and a little make up.

When she was done, Mariah looked in the mirror again, "oh my god, I can't believe I get to wear all this! I've always wanted to get dressed up like this," she laughed.

Ana smiled, "You look beautiful. Your gonna out shine the bride and future queen," she laughed.

Mariah laughed then suddenly stopped; "Ana we need to get you ready, it's almost time!" she exclaimed rushing around the room getting things together for the princess.

Ana slipped on her white dress, put on a pair of white heels, a diamond bracelet and some earrings, then slipped on her teara. She wore her hair down.

Ana stood in front of the huge mirror and adjusted her grandmother's necklace, then sprayed some strawberry perfume on too.

Once she was done getting ready, Ana and Mariah realized they had a bit of time left before they had to head down stairs, so Mariah followed Ana out on the balcony and the two girls sat on the railing.

Mariah and Ana had a perfect view of the castle grounds and could see people scrambling around, making last minute touches to the yard. Already there were hundreds of chairs lined up and facing what looked like an altar or stage in the front. Food was being placed on a large buffet table off to the side. There was also an aisle down the center of all the rows were Ana would be walking down.

Mariah and Ana watched in silence as the people went about their business getting things ready. Soon after everything was ready, people started arriving in the carriages. They were all dressed there best and were talking amongst themselves. Most the people there Ana had never seen before, probably from other kingdoms. Villagers were even allowed in but were only allowed the very back seats that weren't already filled up by the wealthier people. If the villagers couldn't find a seat they would have to stand in the back.

Ana scanned the people from the village. Part of her hoped she would see A New Found Glory to see and support her on her big day. She didn't have to go talk to them, she just wanted to see them; even if it was from afar: she missed seeing their faces, and she especially missed Kai. Another part of her though said it would be a bad idea: it would only cause more pain, distraction, and unwanted forgotten memories to come back to her; something she really didn't need right about now. All Ana needed was to forget about the past and to focus on her future and duties here, and the words she would say today that would seal it all.

As the time went passed though see didn't see them. Her mind told her it was for the best.

After a while when the people started to take their seats and the castle grounds more crowded, Mariah and Ana decided to would be best to start heading down stairs now.

Well that's that. Sorry for the late update though, hoped you like it. Next chapter is Chapter 13: The Crowing and the title pretty must says everything. But if anyone is interested I added a new chapter to my story: Fixing Their Future which I haven't updated in a while so I'd really appreciate if someone read and told me how I did. Plz!

Till next time!


	14. The Crowning

Hey all! Here's the next chapie! If ya haven't caught on by now; I don't own anything.

**Kaely Mel** – thanks for the review as always!

**Kai's gal-1** – hey thanks for reviewing and thank you for the spell check too…lol I couldn't figure out how to spell it! My computer's spell check didn't look like it had the right ones either lol, so I hate to resort to spelling it my way. But not anymore!

Just Wanna Be Me 

Chapter 14: The Crowning

On the way downstairs to the throne room to meet Ana's parents, Mariah kept getting a lot of stares from the other servants, especially the guys. Mariah seemed to like this new attention and held her had high and smiled.

Ana noticed this and smiled herself to Mariah as well.

When the two girls finally got to the throne room, the king, queen, and Skye were already there. Skye was wearing a pretty pastel purple dress, with no sleeves and her mini tiara which would change today to Ana's tiara, and Ana to the queen's crown.

When the queen saw her daughter she smiled. Ana walked up to her parents and hugged them both tight.

"Ana we're so proud of you," her mother said, tears stinging the edges of her eyes.

"Yes, you are finally a lady," her other added.

Skye gave Ana a hug as well, "I can't believe it! My sister is finally becoming Queen and getting married! I'm so excited and nervous for you," the younger sister replied.

Ana smiled, "Thanks Skye. I love you so much, thanks for being there for me through all this past year, I don't know if I couldn't have made it without you, Mariah, and Hilary pushing me," she replied hugging her sister again.

Ana then realized that, even if she did have friends like A New Found Glory that had an exciting life and that were a lot of fun, she had great friends here as well that loved her. Her friends here maybe couldn't fight off 20 guards or shoot an arrow, but they were always there for her and loved her for her and that's what counted. That was also what made this all worth while; all this work and studying and being someone else, to make them proud and not to let them down. Even if Ana didn't like this and didn't want to change, it was her duty and her destiny. Her friends respected that and supported her through all of it, and Ana was truly thankful for that.

"Mariah dear, you look lovely today," that queen said nodding toward Mariah.

Mariah blushed and smiled, "Thank you your Highness," she replied curtsying.

It was truly a great moment but soon Boris came in, in his tux and everything, and absolutely killed the moment and Ana's good mood. Seeing a huge smile plastered on his ugly face as he walked down the stairs was enough to make anybody sick.

When Boris got down the stairs, he walked toward them, inhaling loudly then let it out, holding out his hands, "Ah Anabell! You look absolutely stunning!" he exclaimed as he walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the lips.

After he did this, Boris looked up and noticed Mariah and started to eye her up and down hungrily.

"You look very nice today young lady… what is your name?" Boris asked Mariah.

Mariah smiled and curtsied, bowing her head then rolling her eyes when her hair was covering them.

"_How many girls does her think he can have?"_ Ana thought.

Mariah looked up, "Thank you Sir. My name is Mariah, I am Princesses Anabell's servant and maid," she answered.

Boris' mouth formed an 'O' and he nodded slowly. Ana could tell her really didn't like the idea of a servant in that fine of clothing.

"_Well that's just to frickin bad. It's none of his business anyway what I dress my servant_ _in," _Ana thought.

The king clapped his hands together happily, "Ok then, we better get going, the people are waiting and so is your future Anabell," he said taking his daughter's hand in his. Ana smiled.

"Ok love, you know what to do, we'll all be waiting for you," the queen said walking up to her daughter, "your father and I love you and are very proud. We know you'll make a wonderful queen," she continued then kissed the top of Ana's forehead.

The king and Queen left to take their places followed by Mariah, Skye, and Boris.

Ana was left alone in the huge empty room. It was silent except for the soft voices of the people outside getting ready for the ceremony to start.

In just a few minutes Ana would walk out those doors and into the castle grounds were her future would begin. It was actually pretty scary and it made Ana very nervous. She could feel her stomach do flips as she started toward the door.

Ana opened the door and light flooded around her. Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, she made her way to the back of the crowd were the aisle started, and there she waited for her father to finish his speech. The king was standing in the front on a stage/altar thing, with the queen by his side who had a pillow in her hand with her crown on it. Skye was waiting patiently by the queen's side also with a pillow with her tiara on it, while Boris was standing on the king's side. There was also a servant beside Boris who had an empty pillow in hand and one by Skye too .

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the land…may I present to you my beautiful daughter, Princess Anabell Lee," the king roared.

As soon as Ana heard her name called, her stomach twisted into a knot: this was her Que. She slowly started walking down the aisle, people turned and smiled, watching her walk to the front.

"_Ok, here we go_," she thought taking a breath to calm herself down.

Once Ana got up to the front, she knelt down on one knee on the 1st step in front of her father who was standing on the 2nd step. The king smiled down on his daughter then took out his sword from it's sheath on his side, then gently placed the tip of it on Ana's right shoulder.

"Anabell Lee, as the princess and heir to this throne, this kingdom and all it's people belong to you. Do you swear to take this kingdom into your hands?" The King asked loud enough for everyone to hear.

Ana nodded, "I swear," she answered firmly.

"And do you swear to take it's people and rule them with justice and care?" the king bellowed.

Ana looked into her father's eyes and took a deep breath before answering firmly, "I swear."

The king shifted his sword to Ana's left shoulder, "By the power that was bestowed apon me and that I now bestow apon you: I declare you Queen of this Kingdom," he roared.

Ana lowered her head as the king took his sword from her shoulder and put it back in its sheath. Then he took the tiara that was on Ana's head and turned and placed it on the empty pillow the servant next to Boris had. Next the King walked over to his wife and took the crown that was on her pillow and gently placed it on Ana's head.

Ana looked up as the king held out his hand to help his daughter up. Once off her knee, she turned around to face the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you Queen Anabell Lee Williams," the king roared. The crowd of people got on one knee and bowed.

A the people did this, Ana felt the new weight on her head; she felt a sensed a of power wash over her.

Ana stepped aside as Skye handed her pillow with her crown on it over to the servant that was next to her, then left her place next to her mother's side and knelt down in front of the king as Ana had done.

The king smiled at his youngest daughter then turned and took the tiara that used to be Ana's that the servant beside Boris had, and placed it on Skye's head. She stood up and faced the crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, may I also present to you, the new princess in training, Skylin Marie Williams," the king said loudly.

Skye and Ana looked at each other and smiled, then Ana walked up to Skye and the two sisters linked arms facing the crowd.

Horns sounded as the two sister's walked down the aisle together with the people still bowed.

Once the two girls were down the aisle and had disappeared, the retired King and Queen and Boris left too. Servants started to come and clean up and change a few things to get ready for the wedding once the royal family had left. The people got off their knees and back into their seats to wait patiently for the next event.

Little did Ana nor anyone else know, there were some unexpected guests attending the ceremonies who had their own plans for the day.

Alright I'm done with tat chapter. Chapter 15 is next, it's called: My Wedding? Yep and it's pretty short I think and it's just Ana's wedding but something's coming don' t worry! You probably already guessed it but that's ok. Plz review! Until next time….

-rayluva4 3


	15. My Wedding?

Hey I AM back! So here we go!

**Kaeley Mel** – ah! You're the only one who reviewed! Thank you! U make me feel better lol. Hey and I like your story too so plz keep it up!

**Chapter 15: My Wedding? **

Once in the back Skye hugged Ana, "I know you'll do great as Queen," she said.

Ana smiled letting go of her sister, "Thanks Skye, but if I were you I'd be on my guard," she laughed. "Oh and your not gonna like etiquette and training classes just so ya know; it's a pain in the butt," she added smiling.

Skye shrugged, "I'll live," she laughed.

Soon their parents and Boris came back to see them before the wedding started.

The retired Queen hugged both her daughters, "Good job girls," she said.

Once the mother let go of her daughters, Boris came over and wrapped his arms around Ana, "Were next baby," he winked.

Ana felt like puking; if her called her baby again she would…

"Ok I think their just about ready," the king said and everyone but Ana and Boris left again to take their places in the front row of seats.

Ana looked up at the stage she was just on; everything was changed around and it actually looked like a wedding altar. The priest was already there, waiting in the front; the crowd was silent.

"Guess it's time," Boris smiled kissing Ana on the lips then added, "Everything is going to be fine," he assured her and he slowly started walking up the aisle to the front; the people were watching him: the wedding had begun.

When Boris had said that though, Ana didn't feel the least bit fine…or safe for that matter. She knew what was gonna happen after this and really didn't to think about it: ugly little monkey babies running around everywhere and the father monkey known as Boris right beside Ana beaming. That's how the rest of her life looked like; some people might think of it as a dream come true, but she was thinking more along the lines of nightmare in action.

"Someone just shoot me," she thought rolling her eyes.

Yes when Boris had said that she had got this creepy feeling; she could see the evil that reflected in his eyes.

"_Oh well_," she thought sighing, "_time to get this over with."_

Ana was at the beginning of the aisle when the wedding music started. She put her hands at the sides of her dress and lifted it up a little so that the bottom of the dress wasn't touching the ground and then she slowly stared to walk down the aisle; all eyes were on her.

To Ana everything seemed to go into slow motion as she headed forward toward the front: her steps, her breathing was loud and slow, everyone's face was blurry except for Boris who she saw in the front smiling and beaming at her.

Her stomach twisted in a knot for the second time that day but the pain brought her back to her senses and she realized she was almost to the front.

The music was still playing, "_Damn that's getting annoying_," she thought. She started straight ahead as she continued forward.

Finally after what seemed like years, Ana was up there facing Boris; the priest between them.

The priest opened up his bible and started reading.

"Ladies and Gentlemen; we are gathered here today…blah blah blah," well that's pretty much what Ana heard. Her heart was beating fast and her eyes and attention was somewhere else distracted.

Soon the priest came to the part where he asks anyone if they think that Boris and Ana shouldn't be wed.

Part of her begged someone to just stand up and put her out of her misery; the other half knew this was her destiny, it was meant to be and had to be done.

No one said anything and the wedding went on.

Finally the priest came to the vows.

Boris took Ana's hands in his and looked into her eyes, (she just about barfed) the priest looked at Boris:

"Boris Henry Grant, do you take Queen Anabell Lee Willaims to be your wife?" the priest asked.

Boris looked Ana in the eyes and smiled, an evil glint in the corner of her eyes, "I do," he answered simply.

The priest continued, "Do you promise to love, honor, cherish and protect her, forsaking all others and holding only onto her?"

Boris kept staring his fiancée down with the same intense glare, "I do."

Ana mentally rolled her eyes, "_Right, likes that's really gonna happen. Once he's down_ _with me he'll fake his death then go screw someone else_," she thought.

The priest turned to Ana, "Ana do you, Queen Anabell Lee Williams take Boris Henry Grant to be your husband?"

This was it; these words would seal her to Boris forever. The girl's throat was dry. She started at Boris. Ana didn't want to say anything but she had to, she had told her self she was going to go through with this. Easier said then done. Now that she was up there no words would come out.

"_No, I have to do this_," she told herself," _All this hard work is not going to go to waist_."

Just as Ana opened her mouth to say her vows, an arrow flew through the air, going in-between Ana and Boris just missing the priest and Boris' head. It landed in the middle of the aisle.

Boris stood petrified that the arrow had almost hit him. The women in the crowd screamed and everyone stood up.

While this was going on and everyone was distracted, a cloaked figure ran up behind Boris from the trees, ran past him and straight for Ana. The figure ran up to Ana and picked her up and put her over their shoulders, then took off into the trees.

Ana screamed and pounded on the person's back but nothing worked; the person just kept running deeper into the trees.

K, next chapter is chapter 16: The Wedding Crashers and you can guess who it is…. Oh well but yeah Ana confesses and crap but guess what it's not the ending; NOT EVEN CLOSE so just remember that. I got a whole lotta more stuff planned for this story so be prepared. Plz review and I really hope I get more reviews this time.

Rayluva4


	16. The Wedding Crashers

I'm home! Well I guess I could say that even though I've always been here…anywayz the next chapter…

Disclaimer.

**Kaely Mel **– Thanks! Here's the next chapie for ya!

**DarkheartedKat **– hey glad u like it, I like the songs too. They'll be more coming too later. Hope you stay tuned thanks foe the review!

**Innocent Skyangel73 **– hey can't wait till 'Growing Up' is finished and your other stories are good too plz update them soon! Glad you enjoyed last chapter and thanks foe the review!

Chapter 16: The Wedding Crashers 

"I demand that you let go of me!" Ana screamed at the figure, kicking and pounding on the person's back.

The figure growled annoyingly. Once deep into the woods he slowed to a stop.

"PUT. ME. DOWN!" Ana screamed each word into the person's ear. She got her wish when the figure dropped her and she landed on her butt in front of him.

"Ouch," the new Queen mumbled as she rubbed her soar butt while still on the ground. She looked up and narrowed her eyes at her capture, "What the hell do you want with me?" she yelled at him, the person just looked at her from under their hood. Ok not the best way for a queen to act but hey? She just got kidnapped and carried on someone's back through the woods and her anger was at a dangerous boil.

Just then another cloaked person came out from the trees. He was carrying a bow and arrows where on his back.

"_He must have been the one that shot that arrow_," Ana thought.

"Such strong language for a queen," the person with the arrows replied.

Ana eye's widened as 4 more people in cloaks emerged from the forest right next to the one with the arrows; Ana's capture was the closest which was right in front of her just a couple feet away; the others were behind him.

Ana thought fast and reached for the sword that she saw was sticking out of her capture's cloak. She grabbed it catching the person of guard and pointed the sword at all of them.

"Fine I guess I'll have to beat the shit out of all of you myself," she growled," unless you take me back now."

The one with the bow laughed, "Doesn't anyone have manners anymore, not even a please? Well taking you back isn't an option anyway especially with the dirty mouth you still have," he said as he reached up and removed his hood revealing a set of icy blue eyes and a head of red hair.

Ana eye's widened at the familiar face, "Tala…then that means…" she stuttered as the 4 other people next to him removed their hoods as well revealing Ray, Tyson, Max, and Kenny.

Ana's mouth hug open, "I…but then…" she said looking at her capture that was in front of her. The person simply removed his hood revealing Ana's old crush and friend.

"Kai?" she asked with her eyes wide.

Suddenly they heard voices and many guards, Ana's parents, Skye, Hilary, and Mariah all popped out from the trees.

"There they are! Arrest them!" Boris barked and the guards started to close in.

Ana simply held out her hand to stop them from coming any closer. Ana's parents and Boris had confused looks on their faces but didn't say anything; the guards stopped as well.

Ana just kept staring at Kai, "But how? Why?" she asked him.

Kai started back at her with the same stormy gray eyes she remembered him having; she had missed those eyes. "I should be asking you that. Is this really what you want to do?" he asked her.

"Yes of course I do. Boris is my fiancée, why wouldn't I," Ana simply stated.

Boris smirked. Kai looked at her annoyingly, "I'm asking for the truth Ana, no lies…Let's try this again. Do. You. Love. Him?" he asked saying every word slowly.

Ana hesitated on this one, "Yes," she replied finally not looking at him in the eyes this time.

"Bullshit Ana. Forget about all the people here and pretend it's just me and you and answer truthfully," Kai said.

"Kai I am answering truthfully. This is my future, my destiny; it's who I'm supposed to be. I have to fulfill that. Everyone is happy, they're proud of me: My parents, my friends…I'm not going to let them down now," Ana replied with a pained voice.

Ana's parents frowned at what she said.

Kai sadly shook is head, "Everyone except you. You've always cared about what other people think…of what they want. What about you, what do you really want, Ana? Your friends and family should only care about you happiness. Would you rather spend the rest of your life with him and be miserable," he said motioning over to Boris who had a scowl on his face, "Or be with…with me and be happy and enjoy your life? Screw destiny, you control your own."

While Ana's parents looked sad and guilty, Ana stared up at Kai with glassy eyes, "Kai…I…" she started to say.

"Who do you love Ana? Him or me?" Kai asked her.

A tear ran down Ana's cheek.

Boris didn't like Kai's last question and started yelling at him and walking toward him. Tala stopped him though pulling out an arrow and pulling out his bow at Boris, "Any closer and your dead," Tala replied coldly aiming his arrow at Boris' head.

The guards seemed to think that this was a threat and drew out their swords.

Ana didn't look at them but held up her hand again to stop it all before someone killed themselves. When they stopped she started talking again, "Kai…it's not that simple," she said shaking her head.

"Yes it is. If you say you love him, I swear I will turn around and leave and never set foot on these grounds again. It's just one simple question and I want your answer, what you want, not someone else," Kai replied.

Ana's head was down but she was thinking hard. This was the chance she'd been waiting for, for someone to save her from this. But once it happened she realized if she said yes then it would change everything she had worked so hard for. What did she really want?

Ana lifted her head to stare at Kai again, a couple more tears rolled down her cheeks, "I love you Kai," she replied, he smiled and she ran up to him. Kai wrapped his arms around her, picking her up. He spun her around once, then since he was still lifting her up, Ana leaned down and they kissed for a long time.

Ana's parents smiled along with Skye, Mariah, and Hilary. Boris though blew a fuse.

"What! What is he doing? Your just gonna let him be all over my wife? I'm married to her!" Boris yelled with fire in his eyes.

The king looked at Boris with a flat look on his face, "Conceal him," he told the guards who came up to the mad Boris and held on to him so he wouldn't hurt anyone.

Ana and Kai released their kiss and looked over as Tyson casually walked up to the flaming Boris, "Actually no, you and Ana aren't married. You may have said your vows but Ana didn't get a chance to since she was taken away. All part of the plan," he smirked.

Boris' mouth hung open unbelievably, then as the guards started to lead him away he came to his senses saying, "Don't worry Anabell, I'm not finished yet," he growled.

Ana laughed in the safety of Kai's arms as she watched Boris go, "Thank god he's gone, he's really creepy," she replied tightening her hug on Kai. He laughed and squeezed back.

Ana looked over her shoulder and remembered everyone else in A New Found Glory, "Oh my god, how could I almost forget. Thanks guys," she said as she gave then each a hug then returned back to Kai as her parents came over. Skye, Mariah and Hilary thought it'd be best if they gave them all some privacy so they left for the castle.

Ana was right at Kai's side as her parents came over to them smiling. Ana's mother held out her hands and Ana walked into them; they hugged. "Anabell dear, your father and I are so sorry. We should have asked you if this was what you really wanted instead of forcing all of this on to you," she apologized letting go of her daughter.

Once Ana's mom let go her dad took his turn and hugged her, "Your mothers right, love. All we want is your happiness, so next time just tell us if your uncomfortable with something," he said.

Ana felt a pang of happiness in her stomach as she let go of her father, "Thanks daddy," she said returning to Kai's side.

Ana's father looked at Kai with soft eyes, "Kai? Is it?" he asked holing out his hand, Kai nodded.

"Well I believe I owe you an apology; all of you," Ana's father said looking at the rest of the group too. "If it wasn't for Anabell helping you, you would be dead that night you came to the castle…and I am very sorry," he said sympathetically looking at Kai then the rest of the group behind him.

Kai and the retired king let go of their handshake.

"Nah, I would do the same as you if people attached my castle Sir. I think you did the right thing," Kai replied.

Ana's father shook his head, "Yes but even after Anabell told me that you were her friends I still wanted to kill you and I am sorry for that. I hope you can forgive an old fool," he said.

Kai smiled, "Only if you can forgive us for breaking in, in the first place," he replied.

The retired king laughed, "We have an accord," he said then turned to his daughter and winked, "I like this one."

Ana snaked her hand into Kai's, "So he and the others can stay?" she asked.

The old queen nodded, "They may but it's really not up to us. You're in charge now remember…you make the decisions around here now," she told her daughter.

"And from now on I declare that anyone may choose who they love and marry," her father added.

Ana smiled and laughed, "Thanks," she said to her parents. She tightened her grip on Kai's hand; "Hey guys common, I want to show you your rooms!" she said excitedly to the others and started to lead them back to the castle.

Hey hoped you liked and next chapter is Ch.17: Is This My Fairytale Ending? And it's just about all then getting back together and catching up, it'll be pretty long. But remember: **This is not the ending! **Mahahahaha I'm thinking like at least 7 to 10 more chapters so please stay tuned! Review!

-rayluva4


	17. Is This My Fairy Tale Ending?

Hey hears the latest chapter, enjoy! Sorry for the late update too, it wouldn't let me upload it… damn it.

Although I wish I did I do NOT own beyblade, period.

**Kaeley Mel **– yes it is a very happy moment lol but guess whose gonna ruin it? Ah you got it! Thanks for the review!

**The Bunnies Will Kill Us Al… **- hey thanks for the review and I'm glad u like it! BORIS IS A WEINER! LOL oh by the way, luv the penname lol. Thanks again!

**Justice Dream **– It's alright I forgive you, lol. Thanks for the review though and I think it's cool that your into naruto, I like it too, in fact I was thinking about making a fic about it soon like after this story. Thanks again!

**Chapter 17: Is This My Fairytale Ending? **

Once inside the castle, Ana gave the group of guys a proper tour since they really had only been in there to fight or spy on people.

Ana started on the downstairs, showing everyone where everything was, holding Kai's hand the whole time. She felt that if she let go of him he might disappear and leave her again, she stuck by his side.

Once the tour of the downstairs was finished Ana led the group upstairs. As soon as they got up there they ran into Hilary, Skye and Mariah.

"Ana! Wow I can't believe you got your parents to let them stay," Hilary laughed smiling at a New Found Glory and then going up to hug Tyson.

Ana finally let go of Kai's hand. "So these are your infamous friends," Mariah laughed.

Ana nodded, "Yep, this is A New Found Glory. Guys this is my sister Skye and my personal maid Mariah. Skye…Mariah this is Tyson, Ray, Tala, Kenny, Max and Kai," she introduced them.

They all said hello then Skye said, "So this is the Kai we've heard so much about, nice to meet you," she smiled holding out her hand to shake Kai's.

Ana noticed that Max was pretty much gawking at Skye and Ray was staring at Mariah. Ana smiled to herself, "_Oh this is gonna be good,_" she thought evilly. "You 3 wanna join? I was just going to show them their rooms." Ana replied.

The 3 girls nodded and everyone continued upstairs.

Once down the hall and near Ana and Skye's rooms, Ana starts to point out which guestroom everyone gets.

"Kai you can have the one on the right of my room, Tala you can have the room next to his. Skye's room is on the left of mine so Max your gonna have the room next to hers. Hilary your gonna be in the room across from mine with Tyson to your left and Kenny next to him," Ana explained then took a breath and continued, "Mariah I'm gonna allow you to stay in the guestroom on the right of Hilary. You may stay for as long as they do but after you have to go back to your servant quarters."

Mariah nodded, understanding. Then Ana added, "Ray I want you in the room next to Mariah's," she said.

Everyone nodded, "You may go to your rooms and you have an hour to wash up before dinner. I will have clean clothes brought up to you. Dinner is at 6:00 every night, lunch at 1:00 and breakfast at 8:00, "Ana explained, "Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads and while they went to their rooms to check things out and to clean up, Ana headed downstairs to tell a couple of servants to take clothes up to everyone and then to talk to her parents.

Ana soon found the servants she was looking for and told them what to do. Then she went to find her parents; she really wanted to know what was going to happen to Boris.

She walked through the castle and finally found them; they were in the huge living room talking to Boris. Two guards were holding him back. Ana walked toward them and as she got closer she could hear what was going on.

"This is unbelievable! Anabell is mine, my fiancée, your just can't let that dirty worthless damn peasant have her," Boris was spitting and yelling at Ana's parents.

The retired king sighed, "I'm sorry Boris but Ana does not wish to marry you. She loves the villager, Kai. And all I want is her happiness. I'm sorry that you came all this way but you must leave, " he tried to say as politely as possible.

"Screw her happiness! She was promised to me, force her to marry me like you said! That is what an '_arranged'_ marriage is!" Boris huffed.

"Look Boris again I'm am sorry but things change and I don't want my daughter to be unhappy for the rest of her life," Ana's father replied getting really impatient.

Boris's eye's narrowed, "I'm not leaving," he growled.

Ana decided this was a good time to cut in, "Yes, you will be leaving," she said calmly as she walked up to the group or people.

Boris's head snapped in her direction, his eyes lit up, "Anabell! Tell them. Tell them you want to be with me and not that filthy peasant," he pleaded.

That did it. Ana narrowed her eyes, "Ah excuse me but that 'peasant' you refer to has a name, its Kai. And haven't you listened to anything my father just said? No I don't want to stay with you. You've treated me like an object of your pleasure ever since you got here and I'm sick of it," she snapped in his face then she straightened back up, "I have no desire whatsoever to marry you and I want you out of my kingdom in less then an hour." Ana then walked off to get ready for dinner leaving Boris with his mouth open. (You go girl!)

Just as she was walking away she added, "Guards, I want him outside. I will have somebody come down with his belongings and see to it that her leaves immediately. I don't care how her gets home just make sure he's out of the gates."

The guards nodded and started to take Boris away as he yelled, " This is not over Anabell, you will be mine!"

This sent chills down Ana's spine but she shook it off, she wasn't going to let this ruin her night. She continued upstairs to her room.

On the way up she ran into one of the servants that was carrying clothes up to the guestrooms.

"Emily, when you're done with that, would you please get Boris' things together and give them to him. He is waiting outside and he is to be leaving," Ana explained.

Emily nodded and bowed with a small smile, relieved that the perverted monkey was leaving and wasn't going to be king. Emily entered one of the guestrooms which was Ray's and put the clothes down on the bed before then going to Boris's room to get his stuff, her orange hair disappearing.

Ana smiled triumphantly; she was finally getting rid of Boris! She went to her room to change out of her 'wedding' dress. She put on a light blue dress that was spaghetti strapped and was short. The bottom was cut differently and it ended a little above her knees showing off her creamy, slightly tanned legs. This dress also showed her red X quite well but for once she wasn't worried about it anymore, she proudly showed it.

Ana kept the jewelry she had on and her hair the way it was and went down stairs for dinner.

She was the first one there so she took her seat at the head of the table which used to be her father's but was now hers since she was in charge.

About a minute later Skye was down there; she took her place next to Ana. Soon everyone else came down looking very nice in their new cloths. Kai kissed Ana on the cheek before sitting down on the other side of her. Max sat next to Skye, Mariah next to Kai with Ray beside her. Tyson sat next to Max with Hilary by he side and Kenny sat next to Ray. Ana's parents politely sat down at the end of the table so the group could talk.

While waiting for dinner the old friends caught up with one another.

"Yeah it's been pretty boring since you left," Tyson said.

Ana smiled, "Well thanks for coming today and savin my ass. If not I'd be Mrs. Anabell Grant," she replied making a face. Her parents glared at her for her language but she ignored them.

"To tell you the truth it was Kai's idea," Ray said.

"Yeah after we went to the party he wanted to get you back," Max added.

Ana's eyebrows rose, "You guys were at the party?" she asked suspiciously.

"Yeah we snuck in and pretended to be waiters," Tala replied.

Ana laughed, " I thought some of the waiters were acting funny," she replied.

"When we saw you we were a little surprised though," Ray said.

Ana gave a confused look, "Why?" she asked.

"Because you were different. You talked and acted different, "Max answered.

Ana shrugged, "That's what a year of serious etiquette classes will do to ya," she replied, "but I'm really not like that; it was an act."

"Well we figured the old Ana was there somewhere since every time Boris came within ten feet of you, you rolled your eyes and made a face," Tyson said smirking.

"Guess some things never change," Kai replied. Ana smiled.

Suddenly a girl about Ana's age with long brown hair and brilliant emerald green eyes came in and bowed, "Excuse me but dinner is ready," she said.

"Thank you, Gemma," Ana nodded and the girl disappeared into the kitchen coming back a minute later with servants following her with everyone's plate. They put it front of the royal family and their guests.

While the food was being passed out, Ana introduced Gemma. "Everyone I'd like you to meet Gemma. She's our cook here, and I'm quite sure you'll enjoy your dinner, she's an excellent cook," she smiled.

Gemma blushed and bowed, "Thank you your majesty."

After everyone had their food, Gemma and the other servants left.

Ana saw the disappointed look on Tala's face; she had seen the way he looked at Gemma when she came in.

Ana smirked to herself, "_Wow I think there might just be a lot going on in this castle then_ _everyone expects_," she thought to herself, _"I'm just glad he's found someone else though_ _since I'm with Kai_."

As they were all eating Tyson brought up another subject. "So Ana. What's it like to be queen?" he asked with his mouth full of food; Hilary nudged him with her elbow for talking with his mouth full.

Ana laughed, "Well it's different. I defiantly feel more powerful though and everyone listens to me and does exactly what I say, when I say it," she answered smiling.

"That doesn't happen when you're a princess?" Ray asked curiously.

"Not as much," Ana shrugged, "People don't take you as seriously but when you finally do get somebody's attention, they'll listen," she explained.

For the rest of dinner the group ate, talked, laughed and had a good time; soon though it was time for bed; well at least of Ana it was.

"You guys can wander around or something if you'd like but I have to get to bed. Full day tomorrow as the Big Dog," Ana laughed heading upstairs. Everyone said good night as she left.

About an hour later when Ana was washed, dressed, and ready to crawl into bed there was a knock on her door.

"Come in," Ana replied sitting on her bed.

Skye, Hilary, and Mariah all popped their heads in.

"Hey can we come in for a while?" Hilary asked.

Ana smiled and the three girls happily made their way in and jumped onto Ana's bed to sit by her and talk; they were all in their nightgowns ready for bed.

"So first full day tomorrow as queen," Mariah started.

Ana nodded, "Yeah I'm a little excited," she replied.

"I still can't believe you convinced mom and dad to let your friends stay AND to not marry Boris all in one day," Skye laughed.

Ana shrugged smiling, "I'm just talented like that."

Hilary rolled her eyes, "Hardly," she said playfully. The girls laughed.

"Well I'm glad they could stay," Mariah said finally.

"Yeah we finally got to meet them. You were right about them being cute too," Skye giggled.

"What I tell ya," Ana smiled shaking her head, "I think I know what's going on too."

"What do you mean?" Mariah asked.

Ana smiled, "I saw the way you were looking at Ray, and how Skye was looking at Max. And just so ya know they were lookin the same way at you two," she replied.

Skye and Mariah blushed.

"That's why everybody is arranged in the rooms like that, huh?" Hilary said looking at Ana suspiciously.

The queen laughed and nodded, "Someone got it."

"So do you really think they like us?" Mariah asked.

"Yeah, trust me they do," Ana nodded.

"So what's Max like?" Skye asked happily grinning and wiggling around.

Ana thought for a minute but Hilary answered for her, "He's nice and a little slap happy at times, but he's really cool," she explained.

"Ray on the other hand is very nice, understanding, and easy to talk to. A little quiet sometimes though but that can be fixed," Ana winked at Mariah who smiled.

"Did you see the way Tala was looking at Gemma too?" Ana asked Hilary now.

Hilary nodded, "Yeah and I'm glad too. I was getting sick of telling him to make a move on you before it was too late," she answered rolling her eyes, "I'm glad he's found someone else and got over you and Kai." Ana nodded.

"Speaking of Kai…he seems like a nice guy, not to mention hot too" Skye winked and nudge her older sister.

Ana smiled, "Once you get passed his shell and get him to talk. I really like him though, I feel happy and safe when I'm around him," she said.

"Well that's good that you feel that way about someone since you'll have to get married soon since you've become queen," Mariah replied, "but I really haven't seen you this happy in a long time."

Ana froze, "_Marriage? Shit, that's right, now that I'm queen I have to marry soon so he_ _can become king. I really like Kai but I haven't really thought of marriage yet_. _More importantly if I do is he ready? I mean he's always been a villager; is he ready to take on_ _the responsibility of a king_?" She thought. This posed as a serious problem but she kept it to herself, "_That's probably not going to happen for a while anyway, right?_"

"Let me tell ya though, I haven't seen Kai this happy either since his parents died. He was always so distant and grouchy. But ever since he met you he's been talking more and god forbid smiling too! Ana, you're the best thing that's ever happened to him," Hilary explained.

Ana blushed, "Well I just hope it all works out," she said looking at the ground.

"Don't worry it will," Skye assured her sister and hugging her, "After all that's happened with you and Boris, you deserve to have something good happen."

Ana laughed. While hugging Ana, Skye noticed the red X on Ana's chest.

"Whoa what's that? What happened?" the younger sister asked.

Ana looked down at it, "Oh that? It's A New Found Glory's symbol. The guys have it on the back of their hands but I put it on my chest so I'd be less visible," she explained.

"Cool," Mariah breathed, fascinated just as Ana was when she first saw it, "How'd they get it to stay red?"

Ana started laughing, "Thanks exactly what I asked," she said then explained it to her.

After a while more of talking and laughing, the girls said good night and left to let Ana sleep. But she didn't sleep; she was still too excited about all her friends being with her and safe and being free from Boris as well.

Ana got out of bed and opened her balcony doors and stepped out into the night air. She went up to the railing and leaned on it, looking out into the darkness, letting the light breeze lift her hair and nightgown a little.

Suddenly she felt a pair of arms snake around her waist and lean up against her. She knew who it was and smiled. "How'd you know I wasn't asleep when you decided to come in here," she asked playfully.

The person shrugged, "If I knew you well enough then I'd know that you weren't going to bed for a while," he answered slyly.

Ana laughed and turned around coming face to face with a half naked Kai, (oh yeah!) their faces inches apart. She saw that all he had on was a pair of pajama pants, leaving his perfectly sculpted chest and abdomen exposed to her.

Ana could feel her heart jump, "_Damn he's got a nice body_," she thought. She lightly kissed him on the lips putting one hand on his firm chest, which sent chills up Kai's body. "Then I guess you know me pretty well," Ana replied seductively.

Kai smirked and kissed her hard on the lips then trailed kisses down her neck and to her collarbone. Ana rolled her head back, softly moaning letting him kiss her. She kept her hand were it was on his chest and put her other around his neck.

Soon after kissing her neck, Kai planted another kiss on her lips. Ana parted her lips letting Kai's tongue snake through. Halfway through the kiss Kai lifted Ana up bridal style, she muffled a laugh still connected to Kai's lips. She put her other arm around his neck. Kai carried her back to the room and gently laid her down on the bed then laid on top of her and continued to kiss her. Ana kissed back letting her hands roam his chest and back, then through his hair.

Soon Kai started to push the straps to her nightgown off her shoulders.

Ana suddenly realized what was happening and lightly pushed him off her.

"What's wrong?" he asked her giving her a confused look.

"It's just… I don't think I'm ready for this," Ana sighed, her lips swollen from kissing, "I'm sorry."

Kai shook his head, "Don't be, I understand. You're going through a big change. I won't pressure you into anything," he said.

Ana smiled, "Thanks Kai, I appreciate that," and she did since she had spent the past year with a guy that always thought of ways to get her naked.

"No problem," Kai answered smiling, kissing her again on the lips, "I love you so much, just remember that. Good night, get some sleep."

"I love you too," Ana answered as he left her room and shut the door behind him.

This time she lay down and went right to sleep.

Ewwlalala! Things are HEATIN UP! Kai without a shirt…that's sends chills up my back! Lol so next chapter is chapter 18: Who Knew? And it's just about Ana dealing with being in charge and her and Kai hang out some more. Remember it's still not over! Let me tell ya I got some STUFF planned for this story yet! Here I'll give you a hint to what's up …or instead how bout a quote from a future chapter:

'_My whole body ached. But even if me body did ache and my heart didn't care anymore, my head knew better.'_

Nice huh? Here's one more:

'_Kai! Kai! She screamed kneeling next to him. She held out a hand and gently touched his cold face_ _feeling tears form in her eyes. Before she could call out his name again, everything went black.' _

Mahahaha! I'm AM evil! Anywayz that's all coming soon,plz read and review! Till next chapter….

---rayluva4


	18. Author's Note

Hey, uh I hate to you that this is not a chapter, it's really to ask a favor, and yes this is kinda low to ask this so plz don't kill me.

You see I started a new story and I was wondering if anybody had an idea for a character to put in it. I only got one review and one character and would like a little more variety if ya know what I mean. So if anybody has any ideas for a character they would like to put in my story, just click on my new story, 'Gladiators' and read through the guidelines and just put your character in your review.

Thank you, it would be greatly appreciated and trust me, I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to, I feel bad now.

---rayluva4


	19. Who Knew?

YAY! I'm glad everyone liked the last chapter and I got so many new reviews! Thank you to everyone!

**Kaeley Mel**- Well I guess you can say things will be cooling down…lol thanks for the review as always!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix**- Lol yes everyone is hooking up, happy, happy ending…or not…hehehe. Thanks I'm glad you really like it though and I hope you keep reading!

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE**- hey thanks for reviewing all the chapter…yes I did need them lol. And thank you for taking so much time out of your day…wow 3 hours…thanks! And yes Kai with his shirt off…totally hot! Lol thanks again!

**Chapter 18: Who Knew?**

The next day Ana woke up feeling happier then she had in a long time.

"I don't have to marry Boris!" she sang happily to herself as she pulled back the curtains in her room letting the sun shine through.

Ana happily skipped around her room and got dressed into something simple to wear to breakfast, then headed down stairs.

Hilary, Kenny, Ray and Mariah were all early risers and were already down at the table, quietly talking a sipping coffee or orange juice. Of course Mariah was down there though, even though she got to sleep in a guestroom she still had normal duties to do.

Ana smiled at them as she walked in and took her seat at the head of the table, "Good morning," she replied.

"Morning," they echoed to her smiling politely.

"So were is everyone?" Ana asked as coffee was placed in front of her and she took a sip.

"Sleeping. Most of them aren't early birds…especially Tyson," Hilary laughed.

Ana smiled, "Well I guess were gonna have to get them up so they don't miss breakfast," she said sending a couple so servants up to get them.

Soon Tala, Kai, Skye, Max, and Tyson all came down dressed except for Tyson who was still wearing his p.js.

Kai came up and kissed Ana before sitting down next to her, "Mornin," he greeted.

"Morning," came Ana's reply as she grinned.

"I thought you didn't like to get up early," Skye pointed out taking a drink of orange juice as it was put in front of her.

"I don't," the older sister stated simply.

"I think she's just in a good mood… if you couldn't tell," Mariah explained laughing.

Ana nodded, "I woke up today and realized, thank god, that I was not Mrs. Grant," she explained.

"Amen to that!" Tyson cheered holding up his glass of orange juice.

Kai gave her a quick look and squeezed her hand that he was holding in her lap.

Soon the food came and they ate breakfast.

When they were done, Ana headed up to her room to get a bath and to get dressed into something nice to wear as her first full day as queen.

She opened her bedroom door and went into her bathroom to see that she bath was already prepared for her. She smiled as she got undressed and lowered herself into the huge marble tub.

After washing and soaking herself for a while, Ana got out and went back into her room with a towel wrapped around her body. When she got in there she saw that a dress was already laid out for her to wear. Ana let the towel drop to her feet and she got dressed.

When she was done she looked at herself in a huge mirror. She was wearing a long flowing red dress that dragged a little ways behind her and hugged her every single curve. The dress was low cut and hung off the shoulders with long sleeves that were cut at the elbow so that the rest of her arms were exposed and the rest of the sleeves hung down to the ground. The front of the dress was V cut but was tied together with thick silver string so that some of her chest was showing, the sleeves were also lined with silver to match the string. Ana's hair was down and she was wearing her crown on her head. She also wore silver high heel shoes and silver diamond studs in her ears. She looked like a beautiful elegant queen.

Ana happily twirled once in the mirror then stopped and rubbed her grandmother's necklace that was still on her neck after all these years, "Here I am grandma, after all this. I hope your proud of me…" she said, "I wish you were here to see me…I miss you."

Ana smiled sadly, touching her necklace one more time before going out her door and heading to the throne room to meet her parents where her day would begin.

When she got down stairs she passed the dinning room where she saw that everyone was still sitting at the table. All the food was cleared away, they were just sitting there talking and finishing the rest of their drinks.

Tyson was the first to notice Ana when she passed, "Whoa there, don't you look hot," he yelled at her.

Ana stopped and looked at him blankly. Kai got up from his seat and walked over to her, "You look nice," he complimented pulling her into a hug. Ana laughed and hugged back. Once done hugging she twirled once, "You like huh?" she laughed.

"I do," Tala laughed.

"Yeah I like the front," Tyson joked.

Ana stuck her tongue out at him, "I didn't ask you," she smiled.

"Ana you look beautiful," Skye told her sister.

"Yeah very elegant," Hilary smiled.

Mariah nodded, "I thought you might like that dress."

Ana nodded, "Yeah I do. Thanks guys."

"You probably better go before your late," Kai said kissing her on the forehead, "Good luck."

Ana said thanks and headed off to the throne room where she met her parents and for the rest of the morning they shadowed her every move; talking and teaching her through everything she did as queen. Ana signed bills, documents, and listened to problems the villagers addressed, tried to fix them, solved disputed between them, and she made sure the alliances with other kingdoms were still ok.

Ana's morning was very stressful and tiring, and she was sure she had gone through 7 cups of coffee. She worked straight through lunch and into the evening.

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It was almost sundown and Ana was hungry, tired, and hadn't seen Kai all day. She needed a break.

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Kai had got bored after walking through the garden 3 times, talking to Tala and Ray, then hanging out by the fountain to think which is what he usually did alone. But today the loneliness was getting to him; he hadn't seen Ana all day.

After lunch he took a nap then went to find Ana to see if she could at least take a break for a while so they could hang out.

Kai headed downstairs to the kitchen to get some water before going to look for Ana. When he got in there he saw Tala and Gemma.

Tala was stirring something in a bowel while Gemma cut vegetables and fruit and tried to teach him how to do it.

Kai looked at Tala and smiled noticing his face had flour all over it.

Gemma smiled at Kai when he came in, "It's harder then you think to teach Tala to cook," she laughed; "he really sucks at it."

"I can tell," Kai answered opening the refrigerator and getting out some water.

Tala shrugged and smiled as Kai walked out.

Kai headed to the front door, water in hand, when he ran into Kenny who had a book in his hand that was open; Emily was with him. It sounded to Kai like he was trying to teach her something about technology.

Kai nodded at them as he passed then slipped out the front door and into the outside.

Once out there he saw Ray and Mariah both with swords in their hands. Ray was teaching her how to sword fight.

Kai smirked to himself as he approached them, "How's it goin?" he asked.

Ray smiled, "Pretty good, she's a natural," replied just as Mariah knocked his sword away, leaving him unarmed. She pointed the sword at his head, "Your dead," she said sweetly.

Ray shook his head in defeat then turned to Kai, "Hey have you seen Tyson or Hilary?" he asked.

Kai rolled his eyes, "Yeah, last time I saw them they went into Tyson's room. Haven't come out since…and I don't want to think about it anymore," he answered with a disgusted look on his face.

Mariah raised her eyebrows and scrunched up her nose, "Ewww, me neither…that's enough," she said picking up Ray's sword and giving it to him.

"Yeah me too. See ya Kai," Ray said turning to fight Mariah again.

Kai waved bye and headed toward the garden again to see if Ana was there but instead in found Skye and Max talking. Max was up a tree, sitting on a low branch while Skye was sitting on a bench that was below him.

Kai approached them, "Have either of you seen Ana?" he asked.

Skye nodded, "Yeah, she passed here going to the stables not too long ago," she responded.

"Alright, thanks," Kai said passing them and heading toward the stables.

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When Ana's break finally came she decided she wanted to go to the stables since she hadn't been there in a while.

On the way there she passed Skye and Max in the garden talking. When she passed them she said hi and then continued on her way to the stables; she had to get there before it got too dark.

Once there she pushed open the door and went inside the stable. A stench of horses, poo and straw filled her nose but she ignored it; it didn't bother her as much as it did some people.

Ana grinned, "Ok, where are my favorite two horses!" she called out walking to the back of the stable to two particular stalls.

She came up to the first stall that had a gorgeous white horse in it, "There's my favorite girl…hey Serenity," she whispered petting the white horse. Serenity was pure white except she had a little black in her mane and tail and also her hind right hoof was black too.

Ana then went over to the stall right next to Serenity's. In it was a large, strong, midnight black horse whose mane and tail was tinged with a little brown.

"Ah, and my strong boy, Salem," Ana cooed at the horse. She pet him as well.

Serenity and Salem had always been Ana's favorite horses, ever since her father had bought them for her. She always used to ride them and talk to them since no one else really used to listen to her. Ana hadn't seen them in a while though since she had been so busy with classes, Boris, the crowning, and the wedding. But after today she just needed to be with them and perhaps take a ride as well.

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," came a voice.

Ana jumped then turned around to see Kai, she smiled, "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey yourself," he replied coming up to give her a hug from behind, "so who are they?" he asked in her ear.

"These are my two favorite horses, Serenity and Salem," she answered.

"They're amazing," Kai replied looking them up and down, then letting go of Ana.

She nodded, "My father bought them when I was younger, I used to spend all my time with them…well them and Hilary and Tala," Ana explained as she walked over to a corner where there was a bucket of oats and brought it over.

Ana reached into the bucket and scooped up some oats with her hand then let Serenity eat from her hand. "My father let me name them," she continued, "Serenity means 'calm and pure' so that's why I named her that because that's what she is. Salem name means, 'safe, or be safe' and so I named him that because he's strong I felt safe around him."

Kai nodded taking oats into his own hand and put it up to Salem. Salem whined and blew snot on him. Kai sighed wiping his hands off while Ana laughed, "He doesn't take well to strangers…I think it has something to do with male dominance," she smiled giving oats to Salem from her hand. He gently ate from her hand.

Kai raised an eyebrow looking at how Salem ate from Ana's hand not his, he smiled, "I guess so."

After feeding them, Ana got out some brushes; "You wanna brush Salem? I was going to take them out for a ride if you wanna come but they have to be brushed first," she explained.

Kai gave her a weird look, "He doesn't like me," he stated staring at the black horse.

"Salem? Nah, he's just gotta get used to you," Ana assured Kai, "You guys are a lot a like, both stubborn, you should get along fine," she smiled getting Serenity out then Salem to groom them.

Kai took a brush and so did Ana.

At first Salem gave Kai a lot of trouble by moving around and stepping on his feet, but later he calmed down and let Kai groom him.

"See," Ana laughed, "He's nice, he's just testing you. He's a good horse though; obedient, loyal, strong, but maybe a little headstrong" she laughed. "Serenity on the other hand my not be very big but she's fast…very fast, smart too."

The two brushed their horses in silence for a little while longer then Kai asked, "Do you come out here often?"

Ana shrugged, "Used too until I got busy, I guess. I used to always ride them and talk to them when I needed someone," she answered, "Today was stressful, I needed a nice ride with them."

"Who knew the wonderful life of royalty could be so tough," Kai joked. (Yes he jokes! Lol.)

Ana just smiled and shook her head, "You have no idea, it's much different then you think."

Once down brushing, Ana got the saddle and reins out for each horse. Serenity's reins were silver with her name engraved on a little gold plate on the side of the reins. Her blanket that went under the saddle was also silver, and the saddle was a regular brown saddle.

Salem's reins were golden with a little silver plate on the side of them with his name engraved on it. His blanket was golden and his saddle was a regular brown one.

Ana took Serenity's reins and brought her out of the stable, Kai was close behind with Salem.

Ana grabbed a hold of Serenity's saddle and jumped up and swung her leg over and sat straight up like a man would with a leg on either side of the horse; not like a lady would with both her legs on one side.

Kai stared at her. "What?" she asked looking down at him.

Kai shook his head, "You are defiantly different then any girl I've ever seen," he laughed grabbing Salem's saddle and hoping up himself.

Ana rolled her eyes, "I thought we already went over my habits when we met?" she stated, "Now are we going to keep talking or are we going to take a ride before it gets dark?"

Kai smiled, "Lets go."

Ana and Kai rode out of the castle gates, and once clear of that Ana smirked, "I'll race ya…" she replied.

Kai stared at her, "You're on."

The two hit their horse's sides and they took off. The horses sped through the woods, Serenity and Ana ahead but soon they slowed down to let Kai and Salem catch up a bit.

Ana smiled, "I think I won…Salem can't catch up to Serenity," she laughed.

Kai nodded, "Yeah I think your right," he said patting Salem's neck, "follow me, I want to show you where my favorite spot is." Ana nodded and Kai lead her off the path they were on and deeper into the woods.

10 minutes later the couple were at the edge of a cliff.

Ana hopped off Serenity and walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down; way below her was a rushing river and a bunch of jagged rocks. Ana then looked up at the sky, it was beautiful; the sun was starting to go down now so the sky was a mix of pink, orange, yellow, red, and purple. It was truly amazing. Ana look a deep breath of the fresh air.

Kai hopped off Salem and went up to Ana and hugged her from behind, tightly wrapping his arms around her.

"It's beautiful," she whispered to him.

Kai kissed the top of her head, "Yeah, this is my favorite spot to come to be by myself…and now it's ours," he responded.

Ana smiled warmly and the two of them sat down with her in Kai's lap and his arms protectively around her. They watched the sun set in this position.

Once it was almost over Ana sighed, "Who knew taking a ride and seeing the sun set could be so relaxing," she joked, smiling.

Kai smiled warmly, "Just what you needed, huh?"

"Yep," came Ana's reply.

Once the sun was down, Kai and Ana got back on their horses and headed back to the castle. Ana went to bed while Kai had a little more up his sleeve; he walked down to the village.

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Now that that chapter is over the next one has a little more of a twist in it I guess you could say…something is defiantly going to happen…actually two things…one's good the other is bad…one's happy, one's sad! …Lol…hehehehe, that rhymed. Oh and it's called, 'How Good Days Can Turn Bad.' So plz review and I'll update a soon as I update my other stories, now on to 'Gladiators'!

---rayluva4


	20. Good Days Can Turn Bad

Hey….so uh I guess here the next chapter cause I ready don't have much to say except that I sadly don't own anything except Ana which I guess is ok but I really wish I could have Kai…mmmm…would that be nice or what!

**Chapter 19: Good Days Can Turn Bad**

The next morning Ana quickly got up, took a bath, and then got dressed in the same style dress as yesterday but instead of it being silver and red, this dress was purple and gold. She then hurriedly headed straight for the throne room to meet her parents, skipping breakfast. Her parents had ordered her that she be down in the throne room early today.

Ana passed the dinning room as she was on her way to meet her parents: everyone was down there waiting for her so they could start breakfast; they stared at her as she hurriedly passed them.

"Sorry guys, I gotta go. My parents want me in the throne room now," she yelled at them from across the room, running as fast as her high heels would let her, "Go ahead and eat without me." Ana then disappeared.

"Uh, ok," Max replied.

"Wonder what that was about," Ray said.

"Guess her parents want to get an early start," Hilary suggested.

Kai didn't say anything; he had something on his mind.

Tala noticed the look on his friend's face, "Kai? Are you alright?" he asked.

Kai snapped back to reality, "Yeah, fine," he answered flatly.

Kai was silent throughout all of breakfast. Even though he normally doesn't talk, Tala was still worried. After the meal, Kai went straight to his room.

Once inside his room he shut the bedroom door and went onto his balcony. Kai took out a small box that was in his pocket. He messed with it in his hands before opening it to stare at its contents. Inside was a beautiful silver ring that had diamonds all around it and a larger diamond in the middle; it was a wedding ring.

Late last night after going on a ride with Ana, Kai had taken her back to the castle then went to the village by himself to buy the ring. Kai picked out the best ring he could find and paid for it; it took all the money he had to afford it.

"All that money for this little thing," Kai sighed running a finger over the small piece of jewelry.

He wanted to ask Ana to marry him…or did he? To take on all the responsibility? He knew what responsibilities there would be if he got married and became king. But more importantly was Ana ready for this? What would she say? After all she had said the other night that she wasn't ready for something as important as sex. Marriage was a big commitment and a big step just like that. So if Ana wasn't ready for sex why would she be ready for marriage? But then again she seemed so happy around him, but was that an act like what she did to Boris?

All these questions were swimming around in Kai's head; he just didn't know if he should ask her or not.

Kai sighed again messing with the box in his hands and looked over the balcony and to the castle grounds.

Suddenly someone opened the bedroom door but Kai didn't notice; it was Tala.

Tala walked closer to Kai, "Kai?" he asked.

Kai spun around a little startled, "Damn it Tala, haven't you ever heard of knocking!" he yelled impatiently quickly shoving the box in his pocket.

To late, Tala had seen it.

"What's that?" Tala asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," answered Kai, flatly putting on an emotionless mask and trying not to sound guilty.

"Yes it is, I saw it. It's something," Tala insisted reaching in Kai's pocket ad pulling the box out. (Ok yeah that's a little weird for a guy to stick his hand in another's guys pocket but what could I do? I mean Kai's really not going to give up that easily.) He looked at the little box in his hand before opening it. Tala's eyes grew wide and then he smirked.

Kai glared at him, "Shut up," he warned.

Tala ignored his friend's warning, "So your finally gonna ask her, huh?"

Kai sighed, "I'm not sure," he confessed.

"Oh common," Tala replied nudging him with his elbow, "you bought the ring which I'm sure cost a fortune, and you love her, right?"

Kai nodded, "Yeah, I do," he answered looking out and down at the castle grounds.

"Well then, what's the problem?" Tala asked.

Kai hesitated, "I don't know…just some questions I need to think about I guess," he responded.

Tala nodded, "Ok well, I'll leave you alone to think then…"

"Just don't tell people, ok Tala? I don't want Ana to find out because I don't even know if I'm gonna-" Kai almost finished but when he turned to look at Tala, Kai saw that he had already left and had shut the door behind him.

"Tala, I'm gonna kill you…" Kai thought, already knowing that his friend probably already told the whole world despite what Kai had said about not knowing if he was even going to ask Ana or not.

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Kai was still standing in the same spot on the balcony an hour later when there was a knock on his door.

He didn't turn around, "Come in," he responded flatly. Kai regretted saying that when Tyson, Max, Kenny, Ray, Tala, Hilary, Skye, and Mariah all came walking in.

"Kai! You da man!" Tyson greeted with a cheeky grin on his face as he came in the room.

Kai already knew what this was about and it was all Tala's fault; he made a mental note to strangle his red headed friend later.

Tyson came up behind Kai and slapped him on the back.

"Don't touch me again," Kai growled.

Tyson backed off but he was still grinning, "Whoa, ok Mr. Sourpuss but don't be so grouchy. Today is a good day! Your gonna finally ask Ana to marry you!" he replied.

Kai rolled his eyes, "Acually I'm not sure if I am or not," he answered glaring at Tala.

"Why not?" Ray asked, "You two really seem to like each other so what's the problem? Last time I checked people like that get married."

Kai hesitated, "It's not that simple," he said, "I don't know if she's ready to go into a big commintment like that...I'm not even sure I'm ready."

"It is a big commitment, your right. It's defaintly something to think about," Mariah replied.

Skye walked closer to Kai, "Kai, I haven't seen Ana this happy in a long time. Ever since she met you she's been giving off good vibes and once you left a year ago they were gone again. Now your back and her happiness is back, I can tell," Skye explained gently. "I'm sure it would make her even more happier if you asked to spend the rest of your life with her no matter what commintments."

"Obstacles have never stopped my sister from doing what she pleased in the past and this is no exeption," Skye finished.

Mariah nodded, "If you really love her then you should ask her," she added, "don't let something like what you two share go to waste."

"And I don't know if you've relized it yet but the rest of us have," Hilary started, "you haven't been this happy since before our parents died and I think it's your turn to be happy and get what you want."

"Yeah, you both need each other," Skye added, "so don't let this oppertunity get passed up."

Kai sighed and slightly nodded.

"See!" Tala replied, "Now aren't you glad I told them? They helped. So don't kill me."

Kai rolled his eyes, "Whatever but you really didn't have to tell Tyson."

Tyson glared at him.

Tala shrugged, "Well he was just there when I told everyone else," he answered.

"Ok well, think about what we said," Ray replied trying to change the subject then heading out the door and motioned for everyone to follow.

"Yeah let's give him time to think," Kenny said, Max nodded and everyone followed each other out.

The door was shut behind them.

Kai returned to looking out over the balcony. He took the shinning ring from his poket and looked at it one more time and thought to himself: They were right. If he and Ana really were meant to be, no obstacles would be a problem.

Kai closed the box and headed down stairs. He started to look around for Ana and soon found her. She was with her parents in the throne room; they were just finishing up listening to a villager talk.

Once the villager left, Kai approached the royal family noticing that Ana looked like she was going to strangle someone. Her face lifted though when she saw Kai coming.

"Kai!" she exclaimed happily hugging him. He hugged gently back.

Once they let go of each other, Kai bowed to the retired king and queen, "I was wondering if I could talk to Ana for a minute?" he asked.

Ana's parents looked at each other for a minute and smiled, "Sure go ahead. It's Anabell's break anyway...just be back in an hour," her dad instructed.

Kai nodded and lead Ana off who was thankful to get out of there.

Kai led her out of the castle and into the garden. The two walked through the paths with Ana's arm hooked around Kai's. "I'm so glad you came when you did," Ana replied, "I thought I was going to explode from sitting there all day long."

Kai smiled not really paying too much attention. He was already starting to get nervous about what he was about to do.

Soon the couple came to a bench that was under a tree in the garden. They sat down.

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A New Found Glory and Hilary, Skye and Mariah all came into the throne room as Ana and Kai left.

Skye went up to her parents, "Mom...Dad, follow us. I think you might want to see this..." she replied taking her parents by the hands and her and the rest of the group led them up the stairs and onto Skye's parent's bedroom.

A New Found Glory and the girls knew Kai was going to propose to Ana in the garden and they planned to watch the whole thing. Skye's parent's bedroom was the only bedroom in the castle that had a perfect, full view of the garden below from off the balcony and that's where the teens planned on spying on Kai and Ana.

"What's going on?" the retired queen demanded as she was being led into her own bedroom then out to the balcony to look over the garden.

"To watch Kai and Anabell, your majesty," Mariah replied sweetly and politely.

"What do you mean...?" Ana's dad asked suspiciously as he looked down at the garden to see his older daughter and Kai sitting on a bench together...Kai looking a bit nervous.

Everyone gathered around the railing to watch the events unfold.

"Kai is going to propose to Ana," Skye answered her father.

Skye's parents looked a bit surprised, "He is?" her father asked looking down at the couple in the garden.

Skye and the others nodded.

The retired queen's face lit up, "Oh that's wonderful!" she exclaimed excitedly, smiling, "so there's going to be a wedding after all! And I'm finally going to get a grandchild!"

Skye's father rolled his eyes and frowned, "Dear...you don't know that for sure...," he reasoned to his wife.

Skye's mother linked arms with her husband and started to patt him on the arm like a little kid, "Really honey...look at them," she said motioning down at the garden, "Hmmm...I hope it's a girl...'

Everyone laughed except Skye's father who continued to frown.

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Kai took Ana's hands in his and looked straight at her, "Ana...do you love me?" he asked hesitantly.

Aan gave him a confused look, "Of course," she replied.

"No, I mean really..."

"Yes really...Kai what is this about, what's wrong?" Ana asked a little worried.

"No, nothing's wrong. I justt wanted to make sure," Kai responded then took a breath. "Anabell you mean so much to me...when I'm around you I feel happy...I feel whole again. When my parents died a peice of me died with it but when I'm around you it's like...I don't know, you just fill it."

Ana stayed quite, listening.

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"I think he's gonna wimp out on us..." Tala sighed loudly.

"No way. It's not like Kai to wimp out," Ray said.

The two adults and all the teens were still spying on Kai and Ana. They were all too far away to know what was being said between the couple but they could see them and from where all of them were it didn't lok to good.

"He does look a little nervous," Kenny pointed out.

"I thought Kai would never get nervous," Max added.

Tyson sighed loudly, "This is hopeless..." he said leaning his head on his hands, "just wait till he comes back...i'll give him a peice of my mind-"

"Tyson!" yelled Hilary, annoyed, "shut up and give Kai a little credit, have some faith will ya?"

"Yeah, it's not over yet," Mariah added.

Suddenly Skye's eyes widened, "Hey look he's one one knee!" she excliamed.

All of them looked down.

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Kai got one one knee and took the ring out of his pocket and opened it in front of Ana who stared wide eyed at the beautiful ring.

"I've already lost you once, don't make me do it again...I want to spend the rest of my life with you...Anabell Lee Williams, will you marry me?" Kai asked firmly.

Ana nodded, smiling really big, "Yes Kia!" she exclaimed not hesitating.

Kai got up smiling as Ana launched herself into him and they hugged.

After Ana let go of him, Kai took the ring from it's box and put it on Ana's ring finger; Ana then wrapped her arms around her fiance (sp) and kissed him.

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The retired queen smiled from her spot on the balcony, "I'm going to have so many grandchildren," she said happily putting an arm around her husband.

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As soon as Kai and Ana released their kiss, Ana looked at Kai seriously, "Kai you know this is a big commitment right?" she asked, "I'm used to having reponsiblities as princess and now queen...but you've never had any of that. Are you sure your ready?...Cause if your not that's fine I just-"

Kai put a finger to her lips to shut her up, "Ana I have thought about this over and over again...I don't care what's thrown in our way or what the consequences are...I'm ready for them if I can be with you," he said confidently.

Ana smiled; she could feel her eyes getting a little glassy, "I love you," she whispered, hugging him again. She reached over and tangled her fingers in his and the two walked out of the garden and back to the castle.

As soon as they walked in the doors, Ana and Kai were surrounded by their friends, Ana's parents, and Tyson's loud mouth.

"Alright, party time!" Tyson cheered loudly as soon as they came in the door.

Hilary, Skye, and Mariah all crowded around Ana and started talking at the same time.

"Congrats!" Hilary exclaimed.

Skye hugged her sister, "This is going to be great!" she said.

Mariah grabbed Ana's hand that had the ring on it, "Wow it looks even better on you and the ring was gorgeous to begin with," she smiled.

Ana was a little taken back by all this, "Wait, how do you guys know?" she asked suspiciously.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, "Well," Tyson started, "Tala found out and he told us..."

Kai glared at Tyson, "So how did you know I was really going to do it...and how did you know I was asking her in the garden?"

Ray scratched the back of his head, "Well uh..."

"Let me guess...you all were in my parents room spying on us over the balcony, right?" Ana replied with a hand on her hip.

"Wow...she's good," Max said.

"No...that's just the only room that completly over looks the garden," Ana answered simply.

Kenny stepped in, "Well now that we got that cleared up, I thinks it's time to celabrate," he smiled.

Ana laughed leaning into Kai who put an arm around her.

"You two make such a cute couple," Skye mused.

"So when are you planning on having the wedding?" Ana's father asked.

Ana looked around, "Oh daddy...I didn't see you there," she smiled going up to hug him and then her mother.

"So your finally going to get married," her father said, "and your growing up."

"Yes, our babbies are growing up," her mother agreed, "so how many grandchildren can I excpect?"

Everyone laughed except for Skye and Ana. Ana nervously glanced at Kai who smirked while Skye was busy yelling at her mother.

"Momma!" Skye yelled, "is that really nessicary (sp)!"

Her mother gave her a confused look, "Well of course, sweetheart...it's part of life," she answered, "and I'm a women who would like the company of a grandchild or two."

This made everyone but her two daughters laugh even harder.

"Better get workin on those kids!" Tyson exclaimed laughing.

Ana and Kai both glared at Tyson causing him to stop laughing.

"Well now lets get some more important matters settled," the retired king suggested, "like a wedding mounth or mabye even a date?"

"Hmmm...I don't know," Aan answered looking up at Kai, "what do you think?"

"You pick," Kai said.

"Ok well if you insist...how about some time in September, mabye?"

Kai nodded, "Sounds good."

"Good, ok...how about September 28?" Ana's father asked.

Ana and Kai nodded.

"Great, that gives us 2 1/2 mounths to get ready then...plenty of time," Ana's mother smiled.

Ana grinned hugging her finance; you have no idea how happy she was feeling right now...after all that she had been through with Boris, she was finally getting married to someone she loved.

_"Bout time," _she thought.

Suddenly Ana's father walked up to the couple and looked Kai straight in the eyes, "You better take care of my oldest daughter," he replied in all seriousness, "do anything to hurt her and you'll be sorry."

"Daddy-"

Kai cut Ana off, "I will, Sir," he said confidently.

The retired king smiled, patting Kai on the back, "Good boy...now we can discuss wedding issues later," he said, "but for now, Anabell, you still have a kingdom to take care of..."

"Oh, right..." Ana responded kissing her fiance on the cheek then following her parents out of the room.

"By the way...the ring is absolutey gorgeous," Ana yelled to Kai as she left.

Kai smirked, "Glad you like it."

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For the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, Ana preformed her duties as queen but her mind was distracted; she was thinking of the wedding. She knew she was acually going to get to pick out a wedding dress and decorations this time...yeah she was excited.

_"Hmmm...maid of honor will be Skye..." _Ana was thinking now, _"and Hilary and Mariah will be bride's maids, but who else?"_

"Anabell!" her father yelled.

"Huh?" she replied stupidly from just being yanked from her daydreaming.

"Pay attention," her father instructed impatiently.

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Once it was finally evening, Ana was free. She wanted to be alone for a little while to think, so she told her parents where she was going then walked out to the garden.

Ana entered the garden happily humming to herself. She picked a red rose form one of the bushes and twirled it in her fingers.

She smiled happily putting the rose to her nose and inhaling it's smell, "I think I want roses in my wedding...but not red ones. I want pink and white ones," she told herself out loud.

Ana continued to hum as she came to the bench where Kai had proposed and sat down; she would always remember this place.

_"I'm really excited but at the same time nervous too..."_ she thought looking down at her wedding ring, "_Am I ready for this?...Yes, I'm in love with Kai and I know he loves me back. He proved it the other night by not forcing me to do anything...unlike Boris. Hell, I'd be pregnant by the first night if I was with him." _

Ana kept twirling the rose and looking at her ring.

Suddenly a cloth was put over Ana's nose and mouth. She screamed and dropped the rose but her scream was cut off since the person holding the cloth was pressing down harder so she couldn't yell.

Ana struggled to breath and started to breath in the fowl smelling substance that was on the cloth. Soon she could feel herself getting dizzy and her vision started to get blurry. Soon everything went black and she felt herself fall into someone's arms.

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hey sorry for the late update, computer was acting screwy but i think i no how to get around it though now but that's why the spelling sucks in this chapter cause now the spell check won't work so bare with me i tryed. next chapter is called 'Pain' and that'll be the 20th chapter! cool...so yeah i think you can guess who that was at the end...lol anyways i'm thinking like another maybe 6 to 8 chapter for this story btut i'm not sure yet...

Hope you like the chapter! plz review!

Love all U,

---rayluva4


	21. Pain

hey guys! so here's the next chapter! but it's kinda uh, not really a lemon but close (i guess) so i'm changing the rating to M just to be safe, so if you don't wanna read it then don't...just scroll down to the end and i'll tell you want happened. sounds good? cool.

I sadly don't own any of the wonferful beyblade characters but i will someday and they will help me to rule the world! mahahahaah! See, bad idea if i owned them so make sure i never get my hands on them...

And yes, this chapter is late too...my computer got yet another virus but now I have a brand new computer so hopefully I won't have to worry about anymore virus' anytime soon...

**Kaeley Mel- **Yes sadly she is being kidnapped, bit I am happy that you reviewed so thanks!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix- **Hey thanks for the review! I always look forward to them and yes you guess it...it was Boris! ewww i know...by the way I updated 'Fixing Their Future'.

**a wolf is a perfect paradox- **Thank you so much for the review and I'm really glad you like it so much ! I really hope you keep reading!

**Chapter 21: Pain **

Kai was talking to Tala and Ray when he heard an ear-piercing scream fill the grounds.

"...Did you guys hear that?" Ray asked suspiciously.

Tala raised an eyebrow and nodded.

Both boys turned to Kai to ask if he had heard it too; by the look on his face though, they didn't need to. Kai's eyes were wide with fear; he knew who's scream that was. "Ana!" he yelled racing down out of the room he was in and following the scream.

Tala and Ray followed.

The scream led the boys to the garden where Ana was no where to be found.

"Ana?" Kai yelled for her looking around and waiting for a reply. None came. Kai started to worry.

Tala, Ray and Kai, all walked around the garden yelling Ana's name and looking for the missing girl.

When they came to a bench that was under a tree, their eyes widened, confirming the worst had happened.

Kai knelt down. On the ground before them was all there was left of the queen; her crown and a rose that was next to it.

"What do you think happened?" Tala asked in a worried tone even though he already had an idea.

"Well there's no blood or a body anywhere so I guess that's kinda good news..." Ray observed looking at the glass half full.

"She was kidnapped," Kai replied bitterly, standing up, his fists clenched, "and I think I know who it was..."

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Kai's heart was beating faster now as he went back to the castle to get help.

After the boys told Ana's parents and the others what had happened, the retired king and queen flipped.

"How dare anyone have the nerve to take** my** daughter!" the retired king roared.

"Calm down James," his wife said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "yelling will get us no where."

"Yeah? And neither will standing here..." her husband snapped.

The retired queen gave her husband an annoyed, tired expression then turned back to the boys, Skye, Mariah and Hilary. "Do any of you have any idea of who might have kidnapped Anabell?" she asked sternly.

Everyone looked at each other, wondering if it would be the best idea to tell them what they thought, Kai was the one that spoke up though," Boris," he hissed, fists clenched in hatred and anger.

Ana's mother ran a hand through her long hair and sighed unbelievably while her husband looked like he was going to rip someone's head off, specifically Boris' head.

"Alright!" the retired king roared, taking charge of the situation, "I want all of my finest soldiers and guards assembled...we're going hunting," he smirked.

The guards that were stationed in the room at the time, now hurried out the door to spread the news and to get the soldiers together.

"Sir, I would like your permission to lead the search for Ana," Kai replied suddenly.

Ana's father turned his future son-in-law, with an amused look on his face.

"I am more determined them anyone here to bring your daughter back safe," Kai explained, looking Ana's father straight in the eyes with an unreadable look on his face.

The retired king sighed, running a hand through his short hair. At the moment you could really tell just how old he looked under all the stress. His wrinkles were standing out on his face and there were deep bags under his old tired eyes; it was obvious, even under all the power that this was really getting him. He was really just a regular fragile, old man.

"As you wish," Ana's father replied in a weak, helpless voice, "just bring her back to me."

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Kai asked one of the servants to go to the stables and get Salem ready and bring him out (making sure it was a female since he knew how the stubborn horse could be with males), as he made his way to the front of the castle were, already, there were soldiers gathering. There looked to be about 50 of them so far but Kai knew that's all he would need; he intended on finding Ana safe and bringing her back before it got dark. If not someone was going to pay and that person's name was Boris.

Ana's father and father came up and stood next to Kai. He held up his hands to the crowd of soldiers to silence them; immediately they stop talking and all faced the retired king at attention, hands obediently at their sides.

"Gentlemen! Your objective, as you might all know, is to bring back Queen Anabell; kill anything that stands in you way!" Ana's father's voice rang out over the grounds. He took another breath before continuing to address the small army, "As of right now you have a new commander. His name is Kai and you will show him the same amount of respect as you show me!"

The retired king then turned to Kai and said, "They are very obedient and well trained; this mission should not take long." He gave Kai a meaningful look then turned to leave.

Not very long after, the servant that was sent to get Salem came up to Kai with the magnificent black horse trailing behind. Salem was looking better then ever, ready to go with his gold reins and everything. Kai jumped on his back in one swift motion and turned Salem to face the crowd of soldiers.

Suddenly, Hilary, Skye, Mariah and the guys all appeared and stood next to the horse and Kai. Hilary looked up at Kai with sad eyes, "Find her before Boris does something terrible to her," she ordered. Kai nodded once to Hilary and the rest of them who were looking the same as Hilary was, then turned his head to address the soldiers, holding up a tightened fist.

"Let's go get her back!"

For the whole day no one would know where Ana was.

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Ana awoke with a slight headache. She sat up suddenly feeling a bit dizzy and her vision a little blurry.

"What the hell happened?" she thought as she put a trembling hand to her head and looked around.

Once her vision cleared, Ana could tell, some what, where she was. She was lying on a rusty old bed that creaked when she moved. How old the bed was didn't surprise her though since her surrounding where exactly the same; old, rusty and dusty. From what she could tell, Ana was in an old abandoned house that had obviously withered away over the years. She didn't know where, she didn't know why; all she knew was that she was.

The windows, she noticed, were boarded up with just a little bit of dull light peeking in through the cracks. Ok, so it was sunset. She was now sure about two things.

Ana looked to her left to see an old kitchen that seemed to have cob webs everywhere you looked. She then saw off to the side there was a door leading to the outside; Ana's spirits lifted, there was hope of getting out of here yet. Ana didn't know who had taking her or why but she simply didn't care, she planned on escaping one way of the other. She suddenly noticed though that there was a dead bolt lock on the door, and another rather large lock that needed a key which Ana, of course, did not have.

Ana sighed; there went her hope again. The girl then turned toward the windows spending a little time weighing out the possibility of escaping through there and estimating how long it would take to claw through the wood and nails on the windows. Ana decided she'd have a better chance just waiting till someone found her then wasting her time with the windows.

"Great, now what?" she thought out loud. That's when she noticed something in the kitchen that her eyes had failed to see before; a figure calmly sitting in the shadows on one of the kitchen chairs. Ana's heart skipped a beat then stared to pound against her chest; this person had been silently watching her the whole time.

Suddenly, the person got up from his chair and gracefully started towards Ana and that's when the girl really started to panic, her heart rate sped up and showed no signs of letting down.

"Don't be alarmed sweetheart, it's just me," they said coming closer. Ana could almost hear the smirk on his face when they said that, and it was creeping her out, but at least now she knew that it was a male from his deep voice.

When the man was only feet away from Ana, he stepped into a strip of light that was coming in through the cracks in the windows and that's when Ana saw his face for the first time.

Boris.

Ana couldn't think straight anymore; her mind was completely dead, she had trouble even remembering how to breath properly. She racked through her brain to make sense of the scenario:_ kidnapped...Boris...empty house...Boris...alone...Boris...not good, not good..._

All Ana wanted to do right then was to crawl under a rock and die, but since there were none in sight she moved to the other end of the bed, putting as much space as possible between herself and the psychopath. Boris got closer to the bed though until he was right at the edge; an evil smirk playing across his lips the whole time.

Ana knew she should scream, scream for all she was worth but she couldn't, her voice was caught in her throat and she still was having a hard time breathing right; her breaths were coming out in short, desperate gasps.

When Ana finally did regain her voice, she used it to angrily lash out at Boris, "What the hell do _you_ want? Why am I here?" she demanded forcefully. It actually sounded better then she thought; it sounded just as angrily as she felt, even if she was scared to death, she couldn't show Boris that. "I demand that you tell me now."

This made Boris' smile grow larger, "Sorry sweetheart, but I'll be making the demands from here on out," he laughed, "...didn't you believe me when I told you that you would be mine eventually?"

Ana's eyes widened in fear when he said this. A terrible feeling formed in the pit of her stomach; she realized what Boris had in mind. This was not good, not good at all.

Suddenly, Boris launched himself across the bed to get Ana.

On instinct, Ana went to jump off the bed, but she wasn't quick enough; Boris grabbed her wrist and pulled her back up. With his other hand, Boris wrapped his arm around Ana's waist and pulled her closer to him.

Ana started screaming, kicking her leg and scratching at Boris' face. He seemed to avoid all her attempts though so Ana did the only thing left to do in this situation; she reached over and elbowed him hard in the groin.

Boris instantly let out a pain filled yell, doubling over and onto the bed.

Ana took this valuable time she had just created and tried to make her escape. first she tried tugging at the boards that were over the windows, but wasn't getting anywhere fast so she gave up on that, she was running out of valuable time. Next she quickly ran over to the door and frantically tried to jerk it open. Ana soon realized that that wasn't going to work either; she did the only thing her desperate mind could think to do now: she screamed at the top of her lungs and started banging and kicking on the door, trying to make as much noise as possible, hoping that she was close enough to civilization for someone to hear her.

Apparently not, no one came to her desperate cries for help.

By this time Boris was slowly hobbling towards Ana, trying to recover from the painful blow she had inflicted on his sensitive area. His face was full of anger, annoyance, and amusement; mainly just anger though.

"Now, now, Ana," he mocked her with a slight of frustration in his voice, "do you really believe anyone will here you out in the middle of no where?" He approached her.

Ana turned to look up at him with eyes wide with fear, as she pressed her back against the door. Boris's eyes were disgusting, she thought, they were full of lust, selfishness, and no mercy what so ever. Ana suddenly feared for the worst.

And the worst, she got.

In second, Boris was on top of Ana again, pushing her harder against the door with his own body, pinning her there. He started to kiss her neck while Ana tried desperately to scratch at his face. Once annoyed with her hands getting in his way, Boris took her arms and pinned them by her sides with his own then started to trail his kisses to her collarbone.

Ana's chest was heaving as she wiggled under his weight, trying to get away or at least stop him from kissing her anymore. He finally did stop kissing her on the neck and collarbone though but only then to take his hands and place them firmly on the sides of her face, locking her head into place.

Ana took her now free hands and staring pounding against his chest, "Get the hell off me you disgusting bastard!" she cussed at him, using all her strength to push him off.

Boris pressed his body harder against hers to keep her from moving him back and smiled at her colorful language. Ana glared daggers at him and only wanted to shove that smirk up his hairy white ass.

Boris tightened his grip on Ana's face and then forcefully pressed his lips on hers, shoving his tongue down her throat.

Ana stopped what she was doing, eyes wide, nearly choking. She tried to move her head but his grip was too firm. Instead, she bit down hard on his lower lip, causing him to instantly jerk back with a moan of pain.

Ana shoved his body off of her and took off but only to be jerked back by her hair. She let out a silent scream grabbing at her head. Once Ana was in front of him again, Boris let go of her hair and picked her up by her throat, lifting her off the ground. Ana clawed at his hands around her throat, letting out short struggles for air.

After watching her gasp for air, Boris slammed Ana's head into the door and let go. Ana bit down on her lip and slid to the floor, dizziness overcoming her. She put her hand to the back of her head, groaning in pain, trying to shake away the dizziness and refocus.

Boris picked her up, since it's easier for him to do now since she isn't fighting back, and carried her over to the bed and threw her down. The bed moaned under the new weight placed on top of it.

Ana starts to lose dizziness and returns to normal as Boris throws himself on the bed and over her body, straddling her waist and using all his weight to keep her down. Boris then started running his hands up Ana's body.

Ana's face scrunched up in disgust and started trying, once again, to scratch and slap him or just anything she could think off to get this man off of her.

Boris was now getting impatient and annoyed by hands coming after him and delaying him. He took her wrists and pinned them down above her head using just one hand and with the other hand started ripping the string that was holding the low cut collar on Ana's dress together at the top.

Ana's struggled under the man's weight. Physically Boris was too strong for her and she was helpless under his weight. What made it worse was that all the weight he was putting in her middle was preventing her from struggling anymore and also effecting her breathing which was already at a fast pace.

Ana silently hoped that Boris would just crush her to death before he got a chance to do anything else. But then how will she ever see Kai again if he does? But if he doesn't crush her and he follows through with his perverted plans, Ana doubted that he would let her live much longer and defiantly wouldn't let her go. She was in a lose-lose situation, and she hated both out comes. Actually she would rather be crushed to death then get raped then killed, but it looked like Boris was going to make sure he didn't kill her first.

Damn.

Boris finally managed to break the string causing the slit at the top of Ana's dress to fall open more, revealing large bits of her chest. He was about to make another move when he realized that he was crushing Ana. Now, this was the last thing Boris wanted to do; he honestly didn't care what happened later but he really didn't want to crush her to death before he got his way with her. He lifted some of his weight off the girl. Her breathing got less rugged but it's fast pace never slowed. There went her hope of dieing before anything happened. Damn again.

Boris let go of Ana's wrists and quickly ripped a long strip off cloth from the bottom of his shirt. Ana took this time with her free hands to fight back some more, but Boris was really getting tired of her resistance and so he kneed her hard in the rib, then punched her across the face. Ana's face turned to one side of the bed; she squeezed her eyes shut trying to block out the taste of blood in her mouth and put a hand over her throbbing, bruised rib letting out a moan. Ana wanted to cry out but she wouldn't allow Boris the satisfaction of thinking he had won; she was way too stubborn for that. She swallowed the urge.

Boris grabbed a handful of Ana's long silver hair and yanked it the other way, "Why do you make this hard on yourself; your not going to escape so why waste the energy?" Boris asked staring intensely into her crystal blue eyes.

Ana narrowed her eyes and stared back hatefully; she hated the look in his eyes, it was making her sick. She frowned and spit in his face, "Because you don't deserve me," she answered forcefully, confidence dripping with each word. Hell, if she was going down, she was going down with her head held high.

This put Boris over the edge and made him even more determined. He yanked her hair again causing the girl to let out a quiet yelp.

"I was supposed to marry you!" Boris hissed, inches from her face now, "but you went off with that filthy village boy, so don't tell me that I don't 'deserve' you. You were supposed to be mine to begin with. I deserve every inch of you, and I'm going make damn sure that happens." Boris looked Ana up and down when he said the last part, and then added, "Besides, there is no way in hell that I was going to let some villager have what's mine."

With that said, Boris pulled Ana's wrists once more above her head but this time he took the ripped cloth from his clothes and used it to tie Ana's wrists to the bed post.

Ana struggled but it was useless having her hands bound. Her body was also slowly tiring from struggling under Boris' weight. That was when the young Queen realized there was nothing she could do anymore; she had lost. Finally, when she thought she had control over her life at home…this happened. Now all she could do was lie there helpless and let this sick man violate her. For the first time that night, reality set in and a silent tear ran down Ana's cheek as the man on top of her ripped the rest of the clothes from her body.

"_Kai…" _

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Kai lay squirming under his blankets. It had been a disappointing day. There had been no trace at all of Ana. Things were not going as he planed and it was really starting to piss him off.

Kai sighed annoyingly as he looked up at the dark sky and then over at the campsite where his soldiers were all lying around on blankets, getting a good night's sleep.

Ana was supposed to be with him by now, safe in his arms, but plans weren't going as they should.

Kai closed his eyes thinking back to what Hilary had said before he left; "_Find Ana before Boris does something terrible to her…"_

Right now, Kai felt that something was wrong; a feeling of dread settled in the back of his throat, and suddenly he feared the worst of Ana.

"_Hang in there, I'm coming…"_

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YAY! I'm finally done after some much time! I already explained that my computer got a virus but just recently there was a snow storm and my power was out for 4 days! Yet another excuse to why this chapter is so late, I'm EXTREMLY sorry!

Alright the next chapter is chapter 22 and it's called 'Life is a Struggle'. And no I'm not giving anything away this time, so ha!

If anyone is interested I'm one/maybe two chapters away from finishing 'Fixing their Future' if ya wanna go and check it out. I also need an opinion on what story to start next. All the story ideas are on my profile page and all you have to do is look over the summaries and just tell me the ones that sound the best and which one you would like to see posted next! MUCH appreciated on the opinions!

Plz review.

---rayluva4


	22. Life Is a Struggle

Hey all what's up? Wow this chapter is really late and I'm really sorry for the wait! So with out farther holdups…

Disclaimer.

_**Thank you to all who reviewed!!!!!!!!!!!**_

**Chapter 20: Life Is a Struggle**

Ana's whole body ached. She hadn't moved in hours or slept but her body ached badly; especially the inside of her thighs.

It was morning now, Ana could tell by the soft morning colors that were finding their way in the cracks of the windows, and no one had come for her. Her eyes were heavy from the lack of sleep all night. She just kept staring at the same spot on the wall all night long while the man next to her slept like a freaking baby with a nasty smile on his face.

She could have maybe tried to escape in the night, but the truth was she was absolutely terrified of what would happen to her if Boris caught her. Ana didn't even dare move in the night or make a sound at all, she just lay there, her aching legs slightly bent, her bruised arms wrapped around her naked body, shivering, and turned over to one side staring at the wall.

Ana's body ached, she was exhausted, and she was hungry. What made it even more uncomfortable was that the girl could feel the dried crusty tear stains on her cheeks, her dirty hair, and the dried dark red blood in-between her legs still. It made her feel dirty and not just the blood and tear stains but of what had been taken from her: her innocence, and to the man she loathed the most. Now she just felt like an empty shell with nothing left to protect.

About an hour ago, Boris had gotten dressed and told Ana he'd be back later and that he was going to get food from the nearest village…however far that was. Boris made a big show when he locked the door much to Ana's annoyment.

Ana desperately longed for a bath and a warm bed back at home with people she loved and trusted. All she could think about now though was how much she wanted Kai.

"_Am I ever going to see him again?" _she thought to herself, a single tear making a fresh trail on her cheek. Her arms tightened defensively around her body, trying to hold it together. She felt that if she let go that pieces of her would shatter and fall to the floor.

Ana then tightly closed her eyes, dread churning in her lower stomach, "_No, I won't. Boris will keep me here and maybe even return me to his village where no one will recognize me and if not then he'll kill me. He'll get rid of all the evidence and wash his hands clean of all of this…I'll never see Kai again…"_

Something happened to Ana when she thought those words. Something clicked in her mind as she bit her lower lip; Ana could feel a rush of adrenaline going through her body as she opened her determined eyes. At that moment, Ana knew she had to find some way to escape. She was going to get out of this hell hole and find her finance; even if it killed her, she would see him again. She didn't want to die here, she had plans for her future and she was going to have kids and be able to watch them grow up.

Even if Ana's mind had given up hope and didn't care anymore…her heart knew better.

The girl slowly raised her stiff body to a sitting position but only to flinch as a wave of pain shot through her thighs; her face contorted as she grabbed the sheets and squeezed and then bit her lower lip, waiting for the pain to pass. Her arms and body were stiff and her thighs were weak and hurting but if she was going to survive then she was going to have to move one way or the other. Ana picked herself up and got to her feet, ignoring the new wave of pain as it passed through her.

Ana looked around the room for something to cover her shivering, naked body with. She wasn't about to use the sheets that were on the bed which were beyond dirty at this point, so that was out of the question. Ana did though spot a sheet that had been kicked off the bed during the night, lying on the ground. She quickly grabbed it, wrapped it around her body, and then tied it at her chest. The sheet was actually humongous on her and dragged a couple feet behind her on the ground but it was the only semi-clean thing around.

Ana hurried to the door and started trying to jerk it open. Damn. Locked. Oh, right…Boris locked it…

The young girl stopped to think for a minute; she could feel her determination and adrenaline she had a second ago, disintegrating. This was not good; she had to figure out something before she started to get second thoughts.

Ana frantically looked around the room for some sort of method of escape.

The windows? No, too tightly boarded up.

That was when Ana's brain started up and she got an idea: she was going to use this old house's age to her advantage.

Ana ran to the kitchen looking for some sort of knife or sharp object. She eventually found a knife in a drawer near the sink.

"_Wish I knew this was here last night…"_

Before she did anything else, Ana cut the bottom of the long white sheet, which was around her body, at the knees so it wouldn't get in the way. With that done, Ana started to look around the house's walls for soft spots that were rotting away. These were the weak spots of the house and would be easy to cut or stab her way through. She planned on stabbing at the rotting spot on the wall until it got weaker and gave in, and then she would push herself a nice little hole to crawl through and go from there. Where? Which way to go? She didn't know quite yet; she was really only going to take this one step at a time, she would deal with the next problem when face with it. This way it would be harder for her to have second thoughts and to go back.

The young Queen put her hands to the wall and started running them over the wood, searching for a weak, rotting spot. She did find quite a few but they weren't weak enough and she didn't have all day to try and stab through it.

About a half an hour of groping around and Ana finally found the perfect spot. It was against the wall, near the floor, and directly opposite of the bed. This is where Ana began her work of stabbing at the wall. She wasted no time either as she fiercely stabbed away at the wall with all her strength, energy, and hope that was left in her. For Boris could walk through that door at any minute…

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It was morning now, and the sun was brightly shinning down on the soldiers' sweaty faces.

It was a perfect day to beat the living shit out of a certain perverted bastard, Kai was thinking.

After getting the troops together and up, then picking up camp, Kai grumpily got ready to lead them father on the hunt.

Kai climbed up on Salem's broad back and firmly patted the horse's neck.

"We're gonna get him Salem," Kai said to the horse who flicked his black tail, "And if he did anything to Ana…I swear I'll tear his fucking head off."

They continued the search.

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Her hands were blistered, bruised, and bloodied while her body was throbbing from exhaustion from her attempts. She had been at it for almost 2 hours. She hadn't believed it would be this hard and take this long to stab through rotting wood. Obviously, luck just wasn't with her today.

Example 1: The house's walls were a lot thicker then they looked. Damn it.

Example 2: The knife was extremely dull. After not having been used in years, one would probably guess that but Ana thought that god would at least giver her ONE break…guess not.

At least Boris wasn't back yet; there's always a bright side to things.

Finally, Ana could feel the wood weakening and give way a bit; she dropped the knife excitedly and hunched over a bit so she was level with the spot on the wall. Next, Ana used all the strength she had left to ram her shoulder into the weakened wood.

Pain shot through her arm but Ana ignored it; she was already so close to getting out of here and she wasn't giving up now after all this. She tried again.

This time the rest of the wood gave way and Ana now had a small hole, just big enough for her to escape from.

Ana smiled for the first time since she had been taken here. The feeling of victory washed over her as she wasted no time in crawling though the hole out into the open. The girl did mange to snag the sheet she was wearing on a piece of wood that was jutting out, but quickly pulled herself free, listening to the cloth tear but not caring at all; she was concentrating too hard on the task at hand: which way to go?

Ana ran her fingers through the soft, damp ground and the rough, dew covered grass loving the feeling and the smell it gave off; she was free.

Yes, it did feel good to be free and to smell the fresh scent of plants and dirt other then what ever that rotting house was giving off, but Ana knew she had to get home. She stood up and looked at her surroundings.

Ok, so…analyses check: She was in the middle of a small clearing, thick tees surrounding it. The house was behind her. Long blades of grass tickled her ankles…and she had no idea where the hell she was nor any idea on which way to go.

Ana was lost and probably miles from any village. She stared in each direction, wondering wear to go. The girl had no idea what to do next. Who could ever prepare her for anything like this, or any one else for that matter? All those classes didn't do much good out here, did they?!!

Ana let out a frustrated growl. The best…and _only _thing there was left to do, was to choose and direction and hope for the best, or at least some sort of civilization.

So that's what Ana did. She took in a deep breath, let it out slowly, and then picked a direction and starting dragging her exhausted body that way, putting as much distance as she could between herself and the old house, never looking back.

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Kai rode on through the morning, worrying more as every second passed. They'd been at it all morning and still no missing girl. You can imagine that Kai's patience was running dangerously thin.

Just when Kai was starting to think that another day had been wasted, someone called for him.

"Captain!" one of the soldiers yelled franticly, quickly running up to Kai who was riding on Salem.

As the soldier came up to him, he saluted to his captain, his chest heaving from running as he stood at attention. "Sir," he started in a low voice, "we have found Queen Anabell."

Kai's eyes widened at the news and his heart seemed to jump in anticipation. He hurriedly jumped off Salem's back and followed the soldier into the woods.

The soldier led Kai a little ways into the woods and then into a small clearing, where there he saw a large group of soldiers grouped together around something or another. Kai picked up the pace and sprinted past the winded soldier who had led him here and who also was getting tired of running back and forth.

Kai ran up to the group of soldiers who obediently moved out of the way of their captain when they saw him approaching and stood back at attention.

Kai finally saw what they were all gather around; it was Ana and she was lying on the ground, curled up, and a complete mess. Kai wasted no time in coming up to her and kneeling down next to her fragile looking body. He gently took her head and put it in his lap, and then picked up her bloodied, blistered hand and placed it in his.

Upon finally being this close to Ana, Kai now saw the condition of his fiancée. Around her body she had some sort of white sheet which wasn't exactly all white anymore from all the spots of mud, dirt and even, in certain spots, blood. The ends of the sheet were torn, as well as random spots around it from snagging on things and ripping.

Ana herself though, was a whole other story.

Her hair was a complete mess of tangles, dirt, leaves and twigs, and her eyes were blood shot with heavy bags under them from crying and lack of sleep. Her face was far from holding any kind of color at all, only the slight color of bruising, a swollen lip, and smudges of dirt.

Even though her eyes were half closed, unconsciousness creeping up on her, Kai could see in her tired crystal blue pupils terror and shock; they no longer had that determined spark that kept her going.

Ana weakly looked up at Kai for the first time since she had been taken, and gave a half- hearted smile, "Kai," she whispered, weakly squeezing his hand.

Kai bit his lower lip and gently pressed her shivering body to his, wrapping his arms around her pulling her into a protective embrace.

"Don't worry, Ana," Kai whispered firmly in her ear, "I'm here, and you're safe."

Ana let out a short breath of relief, "Just promise you won't leave me," she begged, pressing her head into his chest. She didn't want to let go of the safe feeling she felt in his arms.

Kai shook his head, "Don't worry, I'm not leaving. I promise."

Ana gave a small satisfied smile in response.

Kai continued to look over Ana's body, estimating the damage. Aside from her swollen lip, Ana seemed to have cuts and bruises over every square inch of her body. There was especially bad scratch on her chest, starting at the top of her chest and disappearing beneath the sheet.

Kai then spotted a dark spot beneath the sheet on her lower left rib cage. It was a bruise, it looked like, and it had to be a pretty bad one if you could almost see clearly the blackened color and the swollenness of it through the sheet.

Kai's eyes continued to angrily scan over Ana's body and finally trailed down to her lower half where he noticed, for the first time, that there was dried blood tainting the inside of her thigh and going down her leg. This was clearly visible since the sheet had been pushed up and over to one side and was slightly open revealing almost all of her right leg, just all the way up to a little above mid thigh.

"How could I let this happen to you?" he growled to himself, angrily, "Boris will pay dearly for what he's done."

With that, Kai slowly collected Ana in his arms and carried her to Salem, who had already been brought over.

Upon seeing his two masters coming to him, Salem instinctively kneeled, lowering his back to let Kai easily climb on while still holding Ana.

"Good boy," Kai muttered to the horse as he climbed on.

Once on, Kai situated Ana so that she was facing forward and so her back was against his chest, her head resting lazily against him. He then took off the cloak he was wearing and wrapped it around Ana's shivering body. Kai firmly locked one his arms around Ana's stomach to hold her in place so she wouldn't fall off. With the other hand he took hold of the reins.

A soldier came up to the horse and his captain, "Sir," he said standing at attention, "What is your next order?"

Kai looked down at an exhausted Ana for a few seconds, thinking; she looked like she was on the edge of sleep, just about to close her eyes finally. Kai looked up and pointed to one of the soldiers in the clearing whom he had come to trust a little more then the others in the past couple days and said in a strong threatening voice, "You. I'm putting you in charge of the mission. I want a thro search in all directions. Find Boris, bring him back to the castle…dead or alive, it makes no difference to me."

The solider nodded obediently and started to yell at the troops to get ready for the search.

Kai looked down at Ana one last time to check on her. She had finally closed her eyes and fallen into a deep, troubled sleep; you could see it in her face and how the frown was set on her mouth.

Kai turned his attention to Salem, "Common boy, get Ana home," he replied slapping the reins.

The horse didn't need to be told twice.

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Oh, boy. Surprisingly that took longer then I thought….there is just not enough hours in the day, I swear! I think it just needs to be summer and no school…

Oh well, the next chapter ins going to be split into 3 parts I believe cause it's sorta long, it's called 'Shattered' and this is where Ana starts her road to recovery but with some difficulties with some other people and some auguring…stay tuned!!

---rayluva4

p.s Still needing opinions for next story! Just go to my profile and pick which summery sounds the best to you! Also I finished 'Fixing their Future'.

THANK YOU!


	23. Shattered Part 1

**RaWr-YeR-fAcE- **lol your reviews always make me laugh, I look foreword to them. Hope you like this chapter and thanks for the review!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix -** lol I love your torture ideas! Yes they are very evil and I like how you think lol. Wow no ones ever said that bout Salem lol I laughed when I saw that cause I thought it was random but Salem will love you forever!

**Kaeley Mel -** Yes…he will pay badly…mahahahahahaha!

**Kai-Hiwatari-Lover- **Thank you!

**Disclaimer already. Always have. Always will be.**

Chapter 21: Shattered, Part 1

The magnificent black horse raced through the opening castle gates, kicking up gravel as he passed. Kai held on tighter to the sleeping girl in his arms, afraid that she would fall off.

Guards ran inside to inform the royal family of the arrival as Salem quickly made his way to the main doors of the castle. Once there, Salem knelt down once more and Kai carefully picked Ana up bridal style and got off of Salem. A servant was already there to lead the large black horse off to the stables.

Just as Salem disappeared, Ana's parents, sister, Hilary, Mariah, and a New Found Glory all came bursting through the doors, hope and relief etched on their faces. By now, Ana was slowly opening her weak eyes from all the noise and movement.

As the group got closer to Ana, their relieved expressions turned to horror stricken ones as the dread slowly crept up on them; they were now able to see Ana's condition a lot better.

The retired Queen stopped short and put her hand to her mouth when she saw her daughter's appearance; her eyes grew wide with shock and disgust. Upon seeing this, her husband put a comforting arm around his wife and steadied her just in case she would collapse, he himself though, was brimming with anger. The retired king pulled his wife over to their daughter and Kai as gently as he could without totally losing it.

Skye on the other hand, flew right passed her parents and to her sister who was now barely conscious again.

"Ana?" Skye whispered, her voice cracking a bit as she looked down at her older sister. Skye gently placed her pure, soft fingers on top of Ana's bleeding and blistered ones.

Ana raised her eyes to look up at Skye and gave her small reassuring smile, "Hey Skye," she croaked, her eye lids were starting to droop.

Skye was fighting back tears now, "It's going to be ok," she choked, biting the inside of her cheek sharply.

"I know," came the whispered response.

Hilary and Mariah were both on the verge of tears as they saw their friend struggle to stay awake just a little longer to see everyone's faces.

"Oh my gosh," Mariah breathed to no one in particular as she looked Ana up and down. She grabbed hold of Hilary's arm and squeezed.

Hilary noticed this and patted the pink haired girl's shoulder, "I know," she replied.

Mariah and Hilary backed away a bit to give the family some room, the boys right beside them staring silently except for Tyson who would every once and a while muttered a 'dude'.

Suddenly the anger that was being bottle up inside the retired king let loose; his outraged roar seemed that it could be hear form a mile away. "Get me nurses, now!" he yelled, "I want nurses in Queen Anabell's room ready to go!" To Kai he said, "Take her up stairs immediately."

Kai nodded and stared to carry his fiancé inside and up to her room.

Everyone began to follow Kai as he went inside and to Ana's room where he gently laid he down on top of her bed while the nurses who were already up there, bustled around the room in a hurry, setting up their things.

As Kai laid Ana down, one of the nurses came up to him and said, "Sir, could you and the others please step out of the room? We need to get her into some different clothes and examine her body."

Kai quickly looked down at Ana and hesitated. He really didn't want to leave her but…

Hearing part of what the nurse had just said, Ana snapped her eyes open wider and looked up at Kai, "Please don't leave Kai," she begged in raspy voice taking hold of his hand as tightly as she could.

Kai squatted down to Ana's level never looking away from her. He kissed the top of her hand and told her in a stern and reassuring voice that he wouldn't be far. "I'll just be right outside your door, Ana. The nurses need to tend to you and I'll only get in the way."

Ana hesitated with a worried look on her face. She looked into his eyes trying to read them to see if he was lying or not. Kai was giving her on of his famous looks. It wasn't a look that everyone knew like his famous death glare, but it was one not many people knew, only if you were a very close friend would you see this; Ana was one of the luckier ones to know this look. It was a very comforting and honest look but it also had that firmness that Kai was known for; his dark grayish eyes seemed to put away all doubts and told you that everything would work out. Who knew his eyes could do other things then scare the shit out of people?

Ana knew, even as she was drifting off that he was giving her that look for more reasons then one.

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The group had filed out of Ana's bedroom and were now anxiously waiting outside the door. After Ana had truly believed that Kai was telling her the truth, she slowly drifted off, letting go of Kai's hand. Kai had only slightly smiled at her boldness that had slowly been cased away easily from exhaustion.; he knew she was tired and that she trusted him, it played freely over her eyes.

Kai was leaning up against the wall right next to the door with his arms crossed and his eyes shut; he was obviously thinking hard about what he was going to do to Boris once he was caught because there was a deep frown set on his lip and a thin line creased deeply into his forehead. The retired queen had a chaired pulled up for her, while Skye sat on her lap burying her face in her mothers chest. The retired queen put a protective arm around her child; her husband was next to her standing against the wall looking more shaken then angry now. Skye, Hilary, and the rest of the boys were all spread out in the hall either sitting or standing.

The group sat in awkward silence for a longtime. The retired king eventually reached up and put his fingertips to his temples and started to massage the sides of his head. He closed his eyes and let out a groan as he rubbed. "You girls will be the death of a poor old man," he muttered to Skye who completely ignored him.

Ana's mother stared off into space with heavy shadows under her eyes as she held her youngest daughter close to her body.

"Where did you find her?" Ana's father's tired sigh finally broke the silence. He didn't open his eyes or stop rubbing his head as he asked this.

Kai on the other hand opened his eyes to address Ana's father, "In the middle of the woods, a couple miles from the outskirts of the village," he answered more sourly then he meant too; "Just her and how she appears now. No Boris or any other sign of life."

Kai paused a minute to collect his thoughts and lay his head back against the wall so that he was now staring at the ceiling above him, "I sent the rest of the troops to keep searching for Boris…we will find that son of the bitch," Kai vowed, hissing the last part. He clenched his fists into balls and was squeezing so hard now that the knuckles were turning white.

Hilary gave Kai a pitied look and left her spot where she was standing next to Tyson to walk over to Kai. She hesitantly put a hand on his upper arm. Kai's fists relaxed and his muscled became less tense.

"It's going to be fine Kai," she reasoned with her soft voice, "Ana's safe and back home…nothing else should matter now."

This was obviously the wrong thing to say to Kai right now because it immediately put him off. He gritted his teeth angrily and clenched his fists again; he whipped his arm out of Hilary's reach and quickly spun around to glare angrily at her.

Hilary, surprised by his sudden actions, jumped back as Kai left her gaze, turned, and then punched the wall behind him. The only thing this did was make Kai's knuckles start to bleed since the wall was made of stone, so no it didn't hurt the wall at all.

Kai ignored the bleeding on his hand as a low growl came from his throat. "No, it's not fine!" he lashed out as he kept his fist on the wall, his angry eyes to the floor. He then turned to Hilary and glared intensely at her again, "Just because Ana's here doesn't mean that it's over! That it's good enough!"

Tyson's face darkened and his eyes narrowed as he watched Kai blow up at Hilary. He got up from his spot on the floor and started to walk over there, his face set with a frown. Tyson didn't get too mad very often but he drew the line when someone yelled at his girlfriend for no good reason.

Max reached out to stop him but Tyson simply pushed his friend away. Max deeply frowned, "I don't know if that's such a good idea…" the blonde muttered darkly. Tyson ignored him.

Tyson walked over to Hilary who was still in sort of a state of shock and pushed her behind him protectively; he wanted to put as much space as he could between the girl and a very upset Kai.

"Back off," Tyson warned now, threateningly, "she was just trying to help."

Kai angrily stared at Tyson now, ignoring the warning in his voice. "Do you have any idea what Boris did to Ana? Any ideas Tyson?!" Kai hissed, "He raped her, Tyson ! He violated her and took something important away from her by force because he's a greedy perverted bastard. Now you tell me if that's enough that she's back, if that's all you want cause I sure as hell don't think that's enough but that's what you and Hilary are telling me now! Your telling me that it's enough that she's back but it's ok that the rapist is running around free as hell to do whatever he damn well pleases! You think I should be content with her just being here!?"

Tyson continued his hard glare at him as Kai silently put his forehead against the cold wall, trying to clam himself.

"Yes I'm happy she's safe," Kai admitted only in a much quieter voice this time but still with a hard edge to it, "but I want more. I want Boris dead and I want to be the one to kill him. I want to watch as his last fucking breath leaves his pathetic body, then you can tell me it's going to be fine."

No one said anything after that for a long time. The air became tense around them. No one moved except Skye who looked around from her mother's arms with big eyes.

"Kai, the best thing for Ana right now is that your here and she really doesn't need to see what a mess you are. She needs you to be with her now, so your going to have to be strong for her," Mariah explained gently.

"Leave Boris to us," Tala replied confidently, "We'll tell you if we find him."

"We know your mad Kai…we all are…but we all have to be strong for Ana…she needs us after all this," Ray explained.

"Especially you," Kenny added shyly.

Kai let out a frustrated sigh, "Your right," he muttered slightly nodding.

Everyone seemed to let out a sigh of relief as they went back to their spots while Kai collected himself.

Then they waited.

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About 45 minutes passed before they were finally allowed in.

Kai went to one side of Ana's bed as her mother, father and sister went to the other side while the rest of the group fanned out around the bed.

Ana was sleeping in her bed, her chest slowly and steadily raising and falling. There was a slight frown set on her troubled face but the bags that once tainted the skin under her eyes were slowly disappearing.

The group noticed that Ana's face had been wiped away of the dirt and blood with only a couple scrapes here and there. You could tell her hair was still dirty and had not been washed yet from the dark spots on it but at least the twigs and leaves had been plucked out. He hair lay in a long braid trailing from her head and out along her pillow.

Ana was lying on top of her bed with the sheets folded at the end instead of over her from the nurses dressing her. Right now she was wearing a see through white slip over the top half of her body, causing you to see the gray bandages that were tightly coiled around her chest and all the way to her waist. On her bottom half, Ana was wearing a pair of baggy white silk pants. Her hands were now bandaged.

This was the least of the worries though, because as Kai looked at Ana's sleeping form, he could see more clearly the damage done to her body. In all the white she was wearing you could clearly see the red marks and scratches and especially the dark bruises all tainting her creamy skin; they seemed to stand out more then ever now. Kai growled deep in his throat.

The retired Queen put a hand on her eldest daughter's beat up arm and leaned down to gently kiss her forehead.

Just then, one of the nurses came out of the bathroom were all her supplies were set up, and came up to the group. She cleared her throat once to get the retired King's attention. Him and the others turned around at the sound of the noise.

"News?" Ana's father demanded with a raised eyebrow. The nurse bowed politely before explaining.

"Umm, well…" the nurse started, "Queen Anabell doesn't really have anymore physical damage then what you see here besides a very bruised rib which is why we didn't try to move her to wash her, we just wiped her down. I'm positive she's very achy and sore especially the inside of her thighs and her hips. The best thing for her is to really just stay in bed and rest for a week or so, no that that should be a problem…Queen Anabell is pretty exhausted."

The nurse paused to look at Ana sadly then continued, "I think she's damaged more mentally then physically though…if you understand. She's going to need someone here when she wakes up, I imagine, to talk to or just to be with. My advice though, would be if she doesn't bring up what happened first then don't say anything about it. She'll talk when she's ready."

Ana's father nodded and the nurse bowed and turned to leave. Just when she got to the door she turned around and said, "Oh, and we need to test her later, maybe in a few days…it's too soon now."

Ana's father nodded once gain, "That'll be all." The nurse bowed again and this time she left.

Once the door was shut behind her, Tyson asked, "Test? For what?"

"For possible pregnancy, Tyson," Kenny answered rolling his eyes annoyingly.

"Idiot," Tala muttered as Kai's jaw clenched at even the thought.

Tyson ignored Tala and just mouthed an 'O'.

After having heard this, Skye took her sister's bandaged hand in hers and sighed, "If you really think about it…Ana's never really going to be the same…" she said softly.

Skye's mother put a comforting hand to her shoulder.

"We can only hope that she does though…and she'll know that we'll be here to help whenever she's ready," Mariah replied.

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Awhile later everyone left except Kai. He volunteered to stay behind. "Tell me if there's any news," he had told the others.

"We will," Tala had assured him and then closed the door behind him as he and the others had walked out.

Kai pulled up a chair and sat down next to Ana's bed. He leaned over and took her bandaged hand and laid his head next to hers; he was also very tired.

Kai watched the steady rise and fall of Ana's chest and when he closed his eyes he fell asleep to the rhythm of her slow breathing.

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Oh boy. Ok.

Next chapter his 'Shattered, Part 2' if you hadn't guessed and this is when things start to get a little better but then get bad again…or maybe that's the chapter after…hmm haven't decided yet…

Anyway, plz review and I'll update this and 'Gladiators' as soon as I can.

---rayluva4

- lol your reviews always make me laugh, I look foreword to them. Hope you like this chapter and thanks for the review!- lol I love your torture ideas! Yes they are very evil and I like how you think lol. Wow no ones ever said that bout Salem lol I laughed when I saw that cause I thought it was random but Salem will ! - Yes…he pay badly…mahahahahahaha!- Thank you! 


	24. Shattered Part 2

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix-** LOL I think it's funny that you like Salem so much! And yes Boris is a nasty little poop ball that should die…but not yet…hahaha! Thanks for the review!

**RaWeR-YeR-fAcE -** well I can't really tell you what happens…but…something is defiantly going to happen...hahaha. LOL I trip down the stairs all the time and even _up_ them too! J wow…who walks with a Kleenex box on there foot, lol jk that's cool I should try! How are your stories coming along? Hope you up date some of them soon…

**Nekomata Demon Queen -** this one's for you! Thanks!

**Kaeley Mel -** thank you! Hey did you ever update that one story? Just wondering...let me know!Chapter 24: Shattered, Part 2Kai awoke from a dreamless sleep, to the sound of Ray's voice a couple hours later. He slowly opened his eyes to see that he was still lying next to Ana, his head on her bed right next to hers.

Kai lifted his stiff neck too look around the room. He could tell the day was late and it was slowly nearing sundown from the weakening sunlight that poured shadows into the room through the large window. Next, Kai turned his head to Ana's still sleeping form, still in the same position she had been in when he fell asleep. For a split second Kai thought that it was all just a dream, everything that happened to Ana had just been a nightmare, but when he saw her laying there all beaten up, proved that it was all too real. Dread turned in the pit of his stomach putting him in a cranky mood. Kai suddenly realized that he had been woken up by someone and turned his head toward the door to glare at them. It was Ray.

"What?" he demanded, half growling.

"Kai, we found Boris," Ray explained, slowly letting the words sink in, "there're bringing him back here so we can put him in prison. We found Boris' hideout too…"

Kai's face remained unemotional; even if his mind was at least a little overjoyed at the thought of finding that bastard and strangling him, he didn't show it. Oh the things Kai's mind was creatively thinking to do to that sorry excuse for a man…

"Kai I really think you should come see this," Ray replied, looking intensely at him.

Kai instinctively switched his gaze to Ana's sleeping form; he eyed her closely.

"I told her I wouldn't leave," Kai muttered.

Ray opened his mouth to say something, but someone else's voice was heard instead.

"Kai," it said from outside the bedroom door; it was Tala's voice. He poked his head through the door to stare at Kai. "Ana will be fine. She's been sleeping for the past like, 5 hours…one hour without you won't kill her. She'll probably sleep through it anyway, besides Skye and Mariah will be here to take care of her." Tala then frowned, "I really think you need to see what we found."

Kai stared at his two friends carefully, "And why do I need to see this so badly?" he questioned. To be honest, Kai really didn't wish to see where Boris had raped his fiancé. Instead he wanted to stay behind and pay a little visit to the bastard in the prison cells.

There was a shot pause; Ray and Tala exchanged glances.

Ray answered, "Because you're her fiancé and you should know exactly what happened and how."

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The next thing Kai knew, he was once again on the broad back of Salem and was following Ray and Tala who were also on horses, through the heavy woods.

"We thought that we'd help search for Boris while you were resting," Ray explained now.

"Yeah and we finally caught him and found out where the little coward was hiding," Tala scowled, "The rest of a New Found Glory is there, along with Hillary who helped too. Skye and Mariah are helping with Ana back at the castle and probably also helping Ana's parents deal with Boris."

Boris. Just thinking about him made Kai sick. Just wait till he got back to the castle…

Kai looked up now and spotted a piece of a worn out looking hut in the distance almost completely hidden in trees and brush.

"That's it," Ray replied before Kai even had time to ask. The boys kicked at their horses' sides and they sped up, racing through the rest of the woods to the hut.

As Kai got closer, he could see more horses that were tired to trees and soldiers shuffling around, inspecting the house still.

Tala and Ray dismounted their horses and tied then up to near by trees. Kai also dismounted Salem's back but didn't bother to tie him up as he followed his red and black haired friends to the back of the house.

Kai looked closer at the house as he walked. It was seriously falling apart on the outside; it wasn't that hard to guess that no one had lived there in years. There were cracks every few feet in the shelter's walls and rotting patches of wood, the windows were boarded up, and even the roof looked like it could cave at any minute. But yet Boris was clever to pick such a place; it was out in the middle of no where, very hard to detect, and so far from the village or any type of civilization that no one would hear a young women screaming…

"This is were she escaped," Tala's voice penetrated Kai's thinking. They were now stationed at the back of the house and Tala was pointing to a small hole near the ground in the side of the house that looked like it had been carved out of the rotting wood. "There's even a piece of that sheet Ana was wearing when you found her." Tala pointed closer to the hole which indeed had a small piece of ripped white cloth snagged on a sharp piece of wood that was jutting out from the rest.

"Clever how she did it too," Ray added starting to walk around to the front of the house again," Common, I'll show you inside."

Kai continued to stare at the hole though. If Ana would have never figured a way out through that hole, would he still be looking? Would he had found her? Dead? Alive? Where would any of them be at that point?

Tala loudly cleared his throat, breaking Kai from thinking again, and motioned for him to hurry up and follow him and Ray inside.

Kai reluctantly followed his friends back around to the front of the house and through a doorway which had no door attached; where the hinges and the door should have been, there was just torn up wood.

As if reading his mind, Tala answered, "When we found this place the door was locked so we just cut it down. We found Boris inside cowering in a corner, the little snake," he explained with a smirk, "guess his plans went a little wrong when he came home to find Ana gone. I think he would have tried to escape through the same hole she did if he could have fit that is."

Ray slightly chuckled at Tala's comment while Kai silently continued to follow them across the house.

Kai looked around; the inside was in no better condition then the outside, the only difference were the many cobwebs fanning out inside. The inside was cold, damp, and gave off an eerie uncomfortable feeling. Kai wondered how anyone, even Boris, could want to live in a place like this.

Boris had probably been pampered all his life; he was a noble and powerful man in his kingdom and now he was a run away rapist and a prisoner. Kai thought it ironic but oddly funny that the man could be so stupid.

The next thing Kai saw as he was walking across the house following his friends, made him stop dead in his tracks. They had just passed the old kitchen and were walking through the bedroom to get to the broken spot in the wall, when Kai saw the bed and what was on it. The old rusty bed looked like it could barely support a butterfly let alone the two bodies that had been on it just hours before; it reminded Kai of some of the elders in the village who could hardly stand even with canes. The sheets on the bed were messily strewn about everywhere and the few pillows lay on the dirty floor. What really caught Kai's attention though was the dark red spots on the mattress, clear as day against the white, slightly smudged sheets.

_Ana's blood._ He knew it. The great Kai felt is insides turn ice cold. Hadn't any one of the tons of people here thought to dispose of the soiled sheets before he got here? Kai's stomach boiled with anger toward his friends for not considering this and even more toward Boris for spilling Ana's innocent blood, which wasn't so innocent any more thanks to him.

Kai felt a gentle tug on his arm. It was Hilary.

"Kai, I'm sorry," she replied sincerely, referring to the bed.

Kai angrily tore his gaze from the bed, hatred played freely on his face and in his eyes not just from the sheets but from the whole situation. "Just show me what I'm suppose to be in here for," he muttered darkly.

Hilary sighed, gently pulling him over to the small hole in the wall near the floor. Everyone was gathered around it which included the rest of a New Found Glory and now Hilary and Kai.

Kai looked down at the small break in the wall. To him it looked the same on the inside and the outside. The only difference was the knife laying next to the hole; it even had hints of blood on the handle.

"Determined little thing isn't she," Ray stated.

"Looks like she found the most worn out spot in the wall and started hacking at it," Kenny replied, "but form the looks of how thick the wood is, I bet it didn't just take a couple minutes."

That was it. Kai couldn't take it anymore. He didn't want to see anymore. He had come, he had seen what he was suppose to, and now he was leaving; he had bigger fish to fry back at the castle. Kai turned on his heel and headed for the door, leaving the others behind to stare at him.

"Where are you going?" Max asked staring at Kai's back.

Kai hesitated under the door way, pausing to keep his temper in check, "To check on Ana." He walked the rest of the way out and mounted Salem. A horses loud whine could be heard and then beating hooves against the ground, slowly fading away. Kai was gone.

Tala and Ray exchanged glances; they knew he was going back to check on Ana but they also knew that he meant later, after he took care of someone else.

Both boys quickly followed each other out of the house and to their horses.

"And now where are you going?" Tyson wanted to know.

"To stop Kai from doing something extremely stupid," Tala answered. Him and Ray were gone in the next second.

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Kai flung open the dungeon doors. He went straight for the last cell.

Upon hearing the sudden noise, Boris looked up form his spot on the cold stone floor only to see Kai and his furious face emerge form the darkness. Boris gave him a smirk.

"Ah, the filthy peasant from before," Boris stated smugly, "Kai, wasn't it?"

Kai remained silent as he scowled darkly at the older man.

Boris grinned at Kai's silence, "I was wondering when you were going to show up down here, Kai," he replied, "after everything that happened and all I thought you'd be down as soon as I got here."

"If it was my choice, I would have been," Kai growled angrily.

Boris kept the smug look on his face, clearly enjoying this. He got up and come closer to the iron cell bars. "I've been meaning to compliment you though..." he started, "…on your wonderful taste in women…too bad Anabell was long taken before she even met you…"

"Ana was never yours," Kai snapped hatefully.

"Oh think she was, pheasant. She was arranged to be mine at age 13. I'm sure you didn't even know she existed then, let alone even cared," Boris explained calmly, "…but now we're even…"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Boris sighed impatiently, "You took something of mine, Kai; you took Anabell from me when she was rightfully mine…but I also took something from you. Your set to marry her now and I took her innocence…something that belongs to her and her husband to be…you."

Boris's smirk grew wider as Kai clenched his fists in anger; his blood was boiling inside him.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" Boris laughed now, "but you can't and you know it. No one can touch me until I have had a fair trial since I am not from this kingdom."

"You're as good as dead, Boris. Everyone knows your guilty. The proof is everywhere. The trial is just a waste of time, "Kai hissed.

Boris laughed loudly at this, "Honestly, it does not matter to me…I have taken what I wanted, and let me tell you Kai, you really missed out." Boris look intently at Kai now with lust filled eyes, "…Ana, she was perfect…every inch of her…"

There was a low growl heard from deep within Kai's throat, "Shut up," he warned threateningly.

Boris ignored him, still smiling evilly, "…The way she would struggle and scream, even though she knew she was losing…the way her body would unconsciously respond to my actions, even if she hated me…"

"SHUT UP!" Kai yelled, unsheathing the sword that was hanging at his waist and running toward the cell which Boris was in.

Suddenly, Ray and Tala appeared from behind Kai just in time to take hold of him and keep him back.

"No Kai, you can't," Ray yelled at his friend through clenched teeth, using all his strength to help Tala hold their leader back.

"Damn it Ray, I don't fucking care! I'm going to slit his fucking throat!" Kai snapped still trying to break free as the fresh adrenaline and hatred still pulsed through him.

Boris stood with his eyes wide in his cell at Kai, frozen with shock; he really hadn't believed Kai would try to attack him.

Tala and Ray managed to finally calm Kai down a bit and pull him back father away from Boris.

"Kai, he doesn't deserve to die so quickly, "Tala reasoned, "let the trial decide what way we should depose of him."

Ray nodded, agreeing, "Besides, Mariah and Skye say that Ana's finally awake."

At the mention of Ana being ok and finally awake, Kai snapped out of his anger enough for him to remember that he had promised her he would be there. If Ray had not said something, Kai would have got lost in his temper and totally forgotten; he would have turned right around when Tala and Ray weren't looking and slaughtered Boris.

Kai now turned on his heel and quickly retreated out of the dungeon, Tala and Ray right behind him.

When Boris saw that they were leaving and that he was safe he yelled after them, "That's right Kai, go and tend to your worthless fiancé!"

Ray and Tala turned around to give him a couple nasty looks, while Kai ignored him the best he could. He just kept reminding himself of his promise to Ana and that she might need him right now.

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Kai saw Mariah and Skye closing Ana's bedroom door just as he got up the stairs. Tala and Ray behind him still.

"She's finally up," Mariah smiled, whispering to the boys when she saw them approaching.

"We gave her something to eat, a bath, redid her bandages, and sent her to bed again," Skye added.

"How is she though? Has she said anything?" Ray wanted to know.

Both girls exchanged sad glances and shook their head, "No, not a word."

Kai sighed, pushing passed the girls and opening the bedroom door. He walked inside. Skye smiled, reaching over into the room and closing the door behind him. "Good luck," came her whisper.

Once the door gave a soft click shut, Kai looked over to Ana's bed where she should have been if Mariah and Skye had just sent her to bed. Of course she wasn't though; Kai should have guessed.

A soft, light, warm breeze tickled Kai's skin. He looked over to were it had come from to see that the balcony door was open, lightly letting in the fresh air, the wind softy tousling the curtains; Ana had to be out there.

Kai walked out onto the balcony and into the night to see his fiancé standing against the railing, her bandaged hands resting on top of it and she was looking out into the night, seeming as though she had been waiting for him. Kai slowly approached her, a couple feet away form her side as to not startle her. She was wearing a long white nightgown the reached the floor and her freshly washed hair was down swaying slightly with the breeze.

Ana did not turn to look at Kai as he approached, instead she kept her eyes ahead, unsurprised that he was there. Kai looked at her through the only light coming from inside the bedroom; she really didn't look that much different physically, besides the cuts and bruises that could be seen clearly even in the night against her now pale skin, from what he could tell, but her eyes were all wrong. Her light blue iris' were slightly glazed over and she seemed to be staring at nothing, like she was lost.

Guilt twisted a knot in his throat. "Ana," he replied gently, afraid that anything he said would cause her frail body to break. To think that she had once trained with them, could do everything they could, and now he was just afraid to talk to her, afraid that she might break into a thousand pieces, seemed ironic to him. "I'm really sorry…I just went out for an hour to see his hideout…"

"I know," came Ana's flat reply.

Kai paused, "You shouldn't be up with that bruised rib, go lie down…"

"I'm fine," came another uninterested response.

Kai was at a lose for words. The once, spunky, friendly princesses he knew was gone, and in it's place an empty shell of a girl. Kai looked to her face, searching for something, anything, like some glint of emotion on her face, but found nothing. All that was there was an unnaturally pale face and dull eyes. He turned away disappointed…how could she be gone? Had Boris really broken her that bad?

Kai didn't dare get any closer to her, afraid that he would break her personal space barrier that she had probably put up; he guessed she was probably a little touchy about people getting to close now, especially the opposite sex.

Neither of them really knew what to say after all this. So the couple stayed like that, unmoving, awkward, and silent as the minutes passed and the breeze continued as the night thickened.

"I'm sorry, Kai."

Her voice broke the deafening silence like a knife. Kai looked toward Ana, not sure he had heard right or even if he had heard anything at all; she had said it so softly and she still wasn't looking at him, he thought he imagined it.

"I should have been more careful," she sighed.

Kai's eyes narrowed angrily. So she had said something after all but was what she said an apology? More careful? Is that what she said?

"What the hell are you talking about? It's not your fault Boris is a greedy bastard."

Ana sniffed back tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes. She turned to finally look at him and his angry face. Her big blue eyes were red and full of hurt. Kai felt his face soften and his heart melt.

"Yes it is. I let him take me…I let him take something that belonged to you."

Kai opened his mouth to argue but Ana continued, a couple tears were now making their way down her pale cheeks. "I wanted you to be my first. I wanted to give you something no other man would ever have of mine; my innocence. I wanted to share it with you once we were married. I wanted it to be something special…but now it's gone and to that son of a bitch." Ana cringed, "I have shamed myself…I am worthless to you…I'm so sorry."

Ana looked up into Kai's eyes, pleading forgiveness. Kai couldn't believe she was even beginning to apologize for that. It wasn't her fault she was raped.

Tears were now flowing freely from Ana's eyes and she sniffed. She took a hesitant step forward and paused before leaning her head into Kai's chest. She stared to cry harder.

Kai was surprised at first by her sudden contact; he didn't expect that she wanted to be touched by a man right now. He firmly secured his arms around her and buried her into a protective embrace, putting his head into her fresh smelling hair.

"I would never blame you for something like that Anabell," he whispered into her ear," I can't believe you would even think to apologize for that."

"I just wanted it to be between us, it was rightfully yours," came her muffled reply, "besides every unmarried man wants his wife to be pure and untainted before he takes her."

"I don't know what they've taught you about that Ana, but I don't care about that…your not worthless to me. Just because your not pure doesn't mean I'm going to throw you away. It means I'm going to protect you better so it won't happen again…I should have been there anyway in the first place…" Kai answered.

The couple stayed in their embrace a couple minutes longer. Kai comfortingly rubbed Ana's back as she calmed down and snuggled deeper into his warm embrace, glad to be back with him.

"I was so scared," she said now, "they only thing that got me to escape was that thought of never seeing the others and my family again…of never feeling this with you again."

Kai's heart swelled though he didn't show it. He remained silent.

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After going back inside, Ana got into bed while Kai crawled in next to her and wrapped his arms around her. He gently ran his hands through her soft hair a couple times and then buried his face affectionately into her neck.

Ana smiled slightly giving a content sigh.

"Do me a favor? Stop thinking about what I think and just focus your energy on getting better," Kai replied as he nuzzled her neck.

Ana gave a slight shrug, "Sure."

Kai took his face from her skin and leaned forward to give her a chaste kiss on the cheek, "Good. Go to bed."

Ana quickly fell asleep and Kai found himself dozing off. _Boris thought he could destroy her… she's a lot stronger then that…_

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…Well Kai, it's only going to get worse, sorry to say.

So that's it for this chapter, took longer then I thought but then again I say that for like, every chapter…lol

Next chapter is Part 3 of Shattered and just about Ana trying to take revenge and being grumpy and what not. STAY TUNED!

Thanks!

---rayluva4


	25. Shattered Part 3

Disclaimer.

**EmZb123**- LOL your right, what kind of twisted sicko is he? Yuck! Thank you for the review! It made me laugh!

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix**- LOL THANK YOU! Oh and I really appreciated that message you sent me about that flame, it made me feel a lot better…idk if you got my message back or not?

**Nekomata Demon Queen**- Thank you!

**Kai-Hiwatari-Lover-** Wow, everyone really wants Boris to die, don't they? But who wouldn't?! What a disgusting slime ball. LOL thank you for the review!

**Chapter 25: Shattered, Part 3**

Ana hovered in the state of sleep and consciousness; they stage where your eyes are still closed and your slowly starting to drift out of your dreams. She stirred slightly. The pain immediately started, bringing her the rest of the way to reality. Her hips ached, her inner thighs and core throbbed, her ribs stung, and she already felt a headache coming on; she felt as if she had been run over by a fairly large train. Ana let out a light groan as she opened her eyes to the bright room.

Morning light poured into the room, which didn't help her headache, and the birds outside were actively chirping; she wondered what time it was.

Ana slowly turned over to face the still form of her fiancé sleeping soundly next to her. She was close to him, inches from his face actually, as she tried to adjust her eyes to focus on her man. But as they did, her heart gave a drastic plunge to her stomach and created a feeling worse than anything physical she was feeling right now.

"_I don't deserve him_," she told herself as she looked over his handsome features, feeling his hot breath tickling her face and breathing in the sent of him. Ana's heart ached for this man even though she knew she was far from worthy of him now. She was a low worthless girl and she knew it.

Ana felt dirty.

She felt worthless.

Broken.

Tainted.

Guilty.

Angry.

Sad.

Tortured.

Shameful.

Numb.

Scared.

Degraded.

Wounded.

Despaired.

Pained.

Betrayed.

Physically and mentally exhausted.

And only one man caused all of it, all the things she was feeling. Ana suddenly felt a deep hated for Boris pass over her, stronger then anything she had ever felt toward one person. How could anyone be as cruel as him? Sure, Ana had known Boris was a little freaky form the beginning and maybe a little perverted but never in a million years would she have guessed that he was capable of something so…well, heartless. Never would she have guessed that he would go so low as to forcefully take her. Oh, was she ever wrong.

Ana continued to stare at Kai as she wallowed in self-pity next to him. She gently put a hand to his head, as to not wake him, and ran it softly through his spiky hair, feeling each strand through her fingertips. Ana sighed lightly as she moved her hand to his face now and started to slowly trace along his eyebrows, across his closed eyelids, and down his nose until she came to his lips, as if she was trying to memorized every inch of his features through her fingers, as if his very being could somehow soak through her fingertips and burn forever into her memory.

Ana gently ran her fingers over the top of his lips feeling his steady breath on them. They parted slightly under her touch.

This man didn't deserve her, she'd decided, he needed someone much better then her, a wife that was pure and could offer him more then she could in a marriage. It wasn't fair to him and it pained her to keep him here because he felt sorry for her. That's the only logical explanation Ana could come up with for why he was still here; it was because he felt guilty about what had happened to her.

Ever since Ana had been old enough to know, she had been taught that an un-pure, sinful wife was no better than a common whore and a disgrace to her husband… was she a disgrace to Kai? Ana felt her eyes begin to water.

Yet Kai had told her that he didn't care, that he would continue to lover her just the same. It confused her and it could just be a lie to cover up his guilt, but whatever it was it still brought a slight smile to Ana's lips; it made her feel a little better that maybe there was still hope, maybe there was a chance that she could make it up to him, maybe there was still a chance at being loved again, like she once had felt.

But how would their marriage go? Ana found herself wondering. Even if this did work out, how awkward would it be on their weeding night? She would eventually have to try for kids, wouldn't she? What honorable man didn't want an heir? Ana didn't know if she ever wanted to make love to another man again.

Ana broke away from these depressing thoughts as Kai stirred beside her. He opened his eyes to meet Ana's blue ones, inches from his.

Kai blinked trying to focus and then grinned at Ana. He reached up to her face and ran his fingers gently down her jaw line, stopping at her chin, never letting his eyes leave hers.

Ana gave a contented sigh, feeling her eyes droop to his touch. The way he looked at her and touched her made Ana feel like she was deeply loved despite everything. All the previous thoughts seemed to be pulled harshly to the back of her mind only to be replaced by something much more powerful. Maybe he really did love her, but that didn't erase the feeling of guilt completely from her.

Kai's hand left her face and he softly touched his palm to her bruised rib. "Does it feel any better?"

Ana gave a slight shrug, "I guess."

Kai stared into her eyes with his own, trying to read any hidden pain behind them. When he didn't find any, Kai slowly leaned over her, his body hovering inches from hers, and leaned in to kiss her on the lips.

Ana's heart rate quickened involuntarily, as she frowned, moving her head slightly to the side so that their cheeks brushed and instead she kissed his twice jaw twice. She felt guilty even being this close to him and she defiantly didn't want to curse his lips with her dirty ones.

Kai on the other hand hesitated, confused, but then feeling her lips on his jaw line, he kissed her cheek instead. He relaxed a little then, letting a bit of his weight lean down on Ana as he buried his face in her neck, keeping his elbows propped up on the sides of her to keep most of his weight off.

Ana reached up to run her nails through his hair and then her hands over his upper back.

"I'm glad your home," he mumbled into her skin.

Ana put her lips to his hair, "Me too."

The couple stayed like that for a while, enjoying each other's company over the long absence and breathing in each others scents, remembering.

After a while Ana gave a soft sigh and gently started to push Kai off of her. "I'd better get a bath in," she replied as Kai rolled over back to his spot on the bed.

Kai nodded and climbed out of bed, then walked over to Ana's side, taking her hand and helping her up.

She rolled her eyes as she stood up, "I can take it from here, thanks."

Kai smirked and calmly walked over to Ana's bedroom door and stepped out.

Only when Kai had left and shut the door did Ana let her face contort from the sudden pain of standing up. She whimpered letting her butt fall back onto the soft bed.

Ana let out a painful sigh; she needed a bath badly and she imagined that it would feel great against her body so she slowly got up and dragged herself into the bathroom.

"_Could the bathroom be any closer?" _she growled in her thoughts hoping her body wouldn't collapse before she got there. Once inside she shut the door and started the water.

As the water filled the huge, marble tub, Ana undressed out of her clothes and stepped into the hot water and set herself down. She gave a relieved moan as she let her sore body be engulfed by the relaxing water. Her muscles loosened as she concentrated on how her body seemed to soak up all the water in the tub until all the pores in her skin were full. She knew no matter how many times she bathed and how many minutes she soaked, that she would never completely be able to wash her body clean of what happened. She would never fully forget the feeling of Boris's sweaty body crushing hers.

Ana suddenly shook her head hard from side to side, trying to get rid of those horrific and painful thoughts. She lay her head back against the edge of the tub and looked up at the ceiling. Physically she was doing better, she could feel her body trying to heal itself…mentally and emotionally though, it would take a while.

Ana sank lower into the water until the liquid reached under her nose, her hair fanned out around her, floating on top of the water. She knew there was hope though, deep in her heart. She was home and she was ready to change things back to the way they were. She had survived and now she was going to make the most of it.

Ana dunk her head the rest of the way into the water, her hair following as air bubbles from her nose made their way to the surface and popped.

Feeling in a bit of a lighter mood, Ana rubbed her hair out with a towel then wrapped it around her body and walked back into her room. She walked over to her large mirror to inspect how she looked; she hadn't had the guts to even look at the damage done to her body since she got back, until now. Ana noticed that the girl staring back at her looked actually a bit more lively then before when she was totally lifeless. Her blue eyes were still dull looking but if you looked close enough there was a small spark forming it's way back into them. Her cheeks, even though her face was still pale, were even a bit flushed.

Ana noticed, as she looked herself over, that she still had her grandmother's necklace on; she hadn't realized it was still there. Thank goodness Boris had been too preoccupied with getting his way to pull it off her. Even her wedding ring was still around her finger. Ana smiled slightly at the little shinning piece of jewelry. _"Kai's promise," _she thought, turning it around on her finger, "

Ana looked over her arms and chest that were exposed from the towel next, and grimaced: they didn't look all that good. Scratches and bruises were still easily seen on her skin, a constant reminder of what happened.

Ana undid her towel and opened it to look at the damage down to her rib. She gasped and was surprised that she hadn't noticed it before; it was an ugly, yellowish blue color and it cover the whole side of her rib. It stood as the biggest reminder.

The girl gave a long and heavy sigh then and went over to her wardrobe to look through her clothes. She picked out a silver dress that went to the floor, had spaghetti straps, and a corset looking style back. She also picked out a light blue shawl to put over her shoulders later and laid it out on her bed.

Ana dropped the towel and slipped the dress over her body, then put her hair up into an elegant ponytail. Just when she reached behind herself to try and tie the back of the dress, there was a quiet knock on the door and Mariah appeared a second later and curtsied when she saw Ana.

"Here, let me help you," the pink haired beauty replied, walking over to her mistress and gracefully tying the back of the dress. "How are you this morning?" Mariah shyly asked next as she did this.

"Fine," came the reply.

"Well, that's good," Mariah answered enthusiastically with a friendly smile, "Your parents would like to know if your feeling well enough to join them for breakfast?"

Ana thought for a minute; it would be nice of her to see her family who had been worried about her but she wasn't really sure she felt like talking…oh well, breakfast with them couldn't hurt, she guessed.

"Yeah, I'll come."

Mariah smiled, clearly pleased, then frowned as she looked over Ana's back and then her arms. Ana could feel Mariah's gaze lingering on her skin and watched her expression change in the mirror. "

Ana uncomfortably moved from Mariah and went over to her bed and picked up the light blue shawl from before and wrapped it around her shoulders so that it was covering part of her back and upper arms. No need for everyone to be looking at her skin and staring.

Mariah sighed going over to Ana's bed and began making it. "You look good," she complimented.

Ana didn't say anything as she put her shoes on then placed her crown on her head.

Mariah waited and then walked Ana out the bedroom door when she was ready.

To Ana's surprise, Kai was outside her door, leaning against the wall, waiting. His hair was damp from obviously just taking a bath and he had changed clothes. Ana's breath caught at the sight of him; he was just to perfect for her and what was she to him? Ana grinned a bit anyway, despite her thoughts, and walked over to him. Mariah smiled warmly and whispered to her silver-haired mistress that she would meet her downstairs.

Once Mariah left, Kai got off the wall and took Ana's hand in his, "Ready?"

Ana nodded, "Yeah."

Ana realized, on the way down to breakfast, that she was happy that Kai was with her at the moment because every time a servant would pass they would stare at Ana. But when she would look up and their eyes met, the servants would suddenly look away and avert their gaze to the floor. It was really starting to annoy the young queen.

Ana had a bit of trouble getting down the steps, so Kai helped her down, then they continued, hand in hand, to the dinning room where they found the royal family and A New Found Glory already there, talking quietly and drinking breakfast juices.

When they saw Ana and Kai enter the room, everyone's faces turned to them and they instantly put on their best smiles.

Ana struggled to keep from snorting at how fake some of them looked. Take Tyson for example: he couldn't fake smile for the life of him…he looked to Ana like he was constipated. Kai, who also saw this, glared hard at Tyson and shook his head for him to stop.

When this was taking place, and the retired queen saw her daughter walk in, she immediately stood up and opened her arms to her eldest daughter.

The corner's of Ana's mouth twitched up as she left Kai's side to go to her mother. She walked into the women's arms and kissed her cheek. Ana realized than how much she had missed her mother as she hugged the women back.

Ana's mother grinned and kissed her forehead. "Are you feeling alright this morning, sweetheart?" she asked as the two let go of each other.

Ana nodded, silently as her father, who had been sitting next to her mother, stood up and gently put his hands on either side of his daughter's head and brought her to him, kissing the top of her hair. "Glad to have you back, daughter."

"Thanks daddy," Ana replied with a smile that didn't seemed to reach her eyes. She left her parent's side then and walked to her seat at the other end of the table. She took her seat at the very end with Kai already seated to her right, and Skye, who smiled at her, on her left.

The tension was high at the breakfast table as they waited for their food, no one really said much of anything. Kai kept a constant hand on Ana's knee under the table to comfort her; he could tell she was blaming herself for all the tension and awkwardness and was struggling not to just do everyone a favor and get up and walk away right then.

Once the food came there was a bit more chatting as people started to make small talk about the weather and whatnot. Ana started to relax a little bit to Kai's satisfaction, but chose not to talk but just listen as she silently pushed her food around her plate with her fork, not really eating.

This did not go unnoticed, unfortunately. The retired queen stared at her daughter form across the table and frowned disapprovingly. "Anabell, sweetheart, aren't you hungry?" she asked sweetly.

Ana looked up from her plate at her mother and shook her head, "No, not really."

Her mother's frown deepened. "Are you sick?" she asked, worried now, "Does your stomach hurt at all?"

"No, I'm just not in the mood to eat," Ana answered, a little louder this time.

Ana's mother shot a nervous glace in her husband's direction. "Did you get sick this morning, Anabell? Are you having cravings for anything else? Sharp pains in your stomach?" she continued to ask.

Ana realized where she was getting at with all these questions; her mother was trying to determine if her daughter could possibly be pregnant.

"Momma…" Ana replied rather coldly; she didn't feel like talking about this at the moment. Her heart already seemed to be growing heavier and she clenched her fists under the table. "…I'm fine. It's only the second day anyway."

Everyone was staring at mother and daughter now, not bothering to pretend to eat anymore; the tension in the air was growing thicker.

Kai squeezed Ana's knee to try and calm her down. It Didn't really work to well.

The retired queen sighed heavily; "Any question or hint as to what's going on inside you is a good one." She returned back to her food and added gently, "But I'd really wish you'd give me more detailed answered then that. You do have that pregnancy test today you know…"

Ana stomach twisted horribly as she slammed both her fists down on the table causing plates to jump and heads to turn in surprise.

Ana glared at her mother who was looking at her in surprise now.

"Maybe that's because I don't want to talk about it," Ana snapped.

The shocked expression on her mother's face fell and disapproval replaced it as she looked back at her daughter. "Don't raise your voice to me Anabell. I'm only trying to help…I'm trying to understand…" she said in a stern voice.

Ana gave a bitter laugh, "No, your right, you don't understand," she hissed, standing up from her chair, "So just stop because you never will and I don't want you too!"

Everyone was staring with their mouths open at Ana; she'd never acted like this before, had she? Maybe close but not like this. Her eyes had never been this clouded over either, giving her an eerie sort of look.

Her mother on the other hand, flinched back like she had been slapped and her eyes started to fill with hurt.

"Anabell…" her father cut in, trying to reason softy but Ana cut him off, violently pushing her chair back. "Excuse me," she said bitterly through clenched teeth, walking out of the room, "I'm going back up stairs."

After she was gone everyone seemed to let out the same heavy sigh.

Ana's mother's face was now buried deep in her hands. "I was only trying to help," she replied desperately.

Her husband put a hand to her back, and started to make gentle, comforting circles. "I know dear, but you weren't suppose to say anything to her about it until she said something first."

"So sue me for caring about her," her mother cried weakly, with her head still buried.

"We are all worried about her, your highness, and we all are struggling with the same feelings you are…" Tala replied suddenly.

Hilary nodded, finishing for him, "…But we all have to be strong for her and let her know that we're here and waiting when she's ready to talk."

Kenny, who had been silent, now cleared his throat. "I think everyone should leave her alone for a while now…give her some time to think on her own," he said wisely then turned his glance to Kai, "…You too."

Skye watched as Kai, who was across from her, glared angrily at the plate in front of him.

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Ana slammed her bedroom door shut behind her and started to angrily pace the length of her room. Her mother didn't understand…no one could…but how could they even begin too?

Why did her mother have to bring it up? She was trying her best to forget and her mother wants to talk about it?! She even said that she was just trying to help…if she and everyone else really wanted to help, they could just shut the hell up and stop worrying about her and asking her questions she didn't feel like answering. They'd be doing her a huge favor.

How am I suppose to get over this if all people want to do is talk about it and ask me stupid questions? Give me a break.

Ana didn't want to talk to anyone about what had happened that night. That was between her and Boris.

Ugh. Boris.

Ana scowled at just the thought of the name. If she ever came across another man named Boris, she would probably have to strike the poor guy down right there. He was a selfish, greedy, bastard that cared about no one but himself and had put her through all of this.

Ana's blood started to run even hotter then before through her veins; her anger was bubbling dangerously close to the top and was getting the best of her. The queen snatched a vase of flowers that was sitting innocently beside her bed, and flung it with all her might across the room where it went flying into a wall and shattered into pieces. Water spilled across the floor along with pieces of broken pottery and scattered flowers.

She let out a frustrated sigh and let herself flop to the floor where she sprawled out on top of it. She pressed her stomach to the ground, and lay her cheek against the cool stone floor. It helped clear her head a bit and calmed her blood down.

How long was this to last? How much longer until the awkwardness around her family and friends would go way? Ana sighed sadly, closing her eyes and curling her body up into a ball on the floor. She put a had to her stomach, thinking. She might even be pregnant. _Wouldn't that just add to everything else_. Ana wanted kids, she would love to have them, but she really didn't want them to have such a fifthly father like Boris. If she was to even have kids she would want them to be with Kai, to have them stand as a symbol of their love…not a symbol of rape from Boris.

Ana secretly wondered why when things really started to look up for her, they just went down hill…was that just life for her? Was she really just that unluckily?

She opened her eyes and stared at the floor spread out in front of her.

All Ana wanted to do was to go back to the way things were …was that too much to ask? But going back didn't qualify with not getting revenge, of course. Boris needed to be put out of the picture. She was a whole hell of a lot happier before he came around and ruined her life, and if she was going to go back…then he needed to go.

Ana decided that she wanted that happiness she had before he came along…which meant no more Boris, starting now.

She cracked a grin at her new decision as she instantly got up, excited about the plan.

Ana grabbed the sheath and sword what were hanging on her bed post and meaningfully walked out her door, determinedly staring straight ahead.

The sword was hers form when she fought with Kai and the group, and it was special to her; she kept it hanging on her bed at all times…and now she was also going to run Boris threw with. And this time, it was Ana who would watch as blood flowed from him instead of her.

She smiled. Boris would pay dearly for _everything_, and _every kind _of pain he had caused her.

And he would get it back ten fold.

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Ok so I lied…there be another chapter after this called Shattered also and it will Part 4. I would type the rest of it in this chapter but then it would be REALLY long and I really don't have time to type that right now because I wanted to get this posted before I left for vacation tomorrow.

So there you have it. Hope you enjoyed. Plz review and if you have any comments on how I can improve I will listen and do my best to fix it!

Thanks!

---rayluva4


	26. Shattered Part 4

**Midnight-Blazing-Phoenix- **lol wow, everyone hates Boris with a passion…I do too! And thank you so much for another review, I love them!

**rebelmewpheonix- **Thank you! And oh yeah, Boris is defiantly an ass and maybe he'll get what he deserves…maybe not…lol I guess you'll just have to find out!

**Disclaimer.**

**Chapter 26: Shattered, Part 4 **

_Ana grabbed the sheath and sword what were hanging on her bed post and meaningfully walked out her door, determinedly staring straight ahead. _

_The sword was hers form when she fought with Kai and the group, and it was special to her; she kept it hanging on her bed at all times…and now she was also going to run Boris threw with. And this time, it was Ana who would watch as blood flowed from him instead of her. _

_She smiled. Boris would pay dearly for everything, and every kind of pain he had caused her. _

_And he would get it back ten fold. _

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Hatred and vengeance are odd emotions. They run through your veins, poisoning your blood, blinding you from reality and truth. The Queen knew that Boris was from another kingdom and was legally awarded a trail first. She knew there would be consequences for killing him before his trail, but Ana was done thinking. Now she would just do. Even if she wanted to stop and think, her emotions wouldn't allow her. Her hatred for Boris was blinding her from what could happen , and driving her to walk to the dungeons and face him.

Ana took the back stairs which no one really used; she couldn't have anyone seeing her because they would try to stop her, and she couldn't have road blocks, not now.

The young queen ever would have thought that she could hate someone this much, but obviously it was possible.

The closest thing to hate she had ever felt toward someone else was when she was 6. It was directed toward one solider. He was big, he was mean, and to Ana's utter disgust, he killed the little bunnies that had tried to eat the plants in the royal garden. Ana had pitied the bunnies when she was that age and hated the guard for killing them…but that was a 6 year old hate...this though…this hate she felt toward Boris was on a whole other level. This was physical and mental hate, and everything else in-between.

_Bravo Boris. You really messed with the wrong person_. Ana was going to show him pain. She was already planning all the things she wanted to do to him as she continued to walk down to the dungeons.

If a servant was to pass their queen at that moment, all they would see was a women just taking an innocent walk around her home. But if they would happen to look closer, they would see what her real intentions were. It was the evident, sharp, hateful look in her eyes and the fact that she had a sword in her hands that gave her away.

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Kai would be damned if he ever took orders from Kenny, especially if it had anything to do with Ana. He could do what he wanted with his fiancée.

So, right after he had finished his breakfast, Kai walked up to Ana's room, despite anything the boy with the glasses had said.

He knocked on her closed bedroom door. No answer. Kai knocked again, louder this time. Still no answer.

"Ana?" he called, putting his hand on the door knob and opening the door. As his eyes scanned the room for his wife to be, Kai saw a broken vase in pieces over by a wall on the floor, water splattered everywhere, and flowers lay forgotten on the stone ground.

Panic was the first ting to flow through Kai's head and then he thought, "_Who could have taken her now?" _ But once he started really thinking about it, he realized that there would probably be more damaged in the room and evidence of Ana being taken if she had been. Kai was only about 40 sure Ana hadn't been taken, but he had a suspicious idea on where she could be if she was still here.

He turned on his heels and headed down the hall.

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Boris was contently sipping water out of the tin cup he was holding when Ana came through the dungeon entrance, her figure seeming to emerge from nothingness out of the shadows.

Boris looked up and when he saw who it was he gave the girl a surprised, but pleasantly smug, smile.

"Come back for more, _your majesty_?"

Ana restrained from saying anything as she quietly made her way over to Boris' cell, her eyes set on the man with determined hate, and a hand held behind her back gripping her weapon tightly.

When Boris saw that Ana wasn't going to retort, he stood up, put his cup down, and walked over to the cell doors, looking like he didn't have a care in the world or even realize that he was in a dungeon waiting a trail that would determined if he lived or not.

"Well, if you didn't come down here for another round, love…what did you come down here for?" He talked to her like he was talking about the weather.

"Your even denser then I thought if you haven't figured it out by now," Ana finally hissed menacingly as she approached the cell door.

Boris smiled knowingly from his side. "Think your going to kill me with that sword behind your back, Anabell?" he guessed with a smug smirk. "And did you forget that you, nor anyone else, can kill me until I have had my trail?"

It was Ana's turn to smirk. "No, I didn't forget. But what you don't realize is that I couldn't care less what happens…as long as I know your dead. Then I can breath easily."

Boris stared back at her confidently, thinking she was bluffing, but Ana was far form joking around. She called for the dungeon guard to open the cell door.

The guard looked at the women fearfully and bowed respectively; "But your majesty…"

"I did not ask you to question me," Ana growled with authority and clearly annoyed.

The guard jumped at the hate in his queen's voice, and obeyed her orders; he opened the cell door, and Ana slowly swung it open.

The creaking of the metal hinges seemed to bring reality down upon Boris, knocking him off his high horse. His eyes widened at Ana and the evident blood lust in her eyes, and he realized that she was dead serious, and he had nothing to protect himself with. He backed up against the opposite wall as Ana got closer, bringing the sword that was behind her back out and in full view in front of her.

"Go to hell," Ana whispered furiously, summing up everything she felt for the cowering man in front of her, and everything she wanted to say to him. Ana brought her sword back, ready to stab Boris through the heart and to the stone wall behind him.

Suddenly, there was a long bang from behind them, and Kai dashed into the room.

Ana completely ignored the noise. She was too zoned in on Boris that she hadn't heard anything. The only thing that existed for her was the man in front of her, her sword, and her pounding, angry heart. Everything else seemed to melt away into nothingness.

She did feel a pair of strong arms wrap around her body, gripping her and pulling her away from her target, and back to reality. Suddenly, everything that had been melted away before, started to reappear and come back together: the guard, the dungeon walls, Kai around her, holding her back. Ana cried out, frustrated and angry as she struggled and kicked against Kai's resistance. "Let me go, damn it!"

Kai tightened his hold around Ana. "Quit!" he yelled angrily back at her, "You know you can't!"

Tears started spilling from Ana's eyes, hot and angry. "I don't care!" she yelled, the shrieks she was making echoing off the dungeon walls. "I want him to feel the pain I feel, it's only fair!"

In the process of kicking, screaming, and struggling, Ana had dropped her sword. Boris, coming out from his shock, saw the weapon drop, and went to pick it up. The dungeon guard was faster though. He took his sword from it's sheath and put the tip of it to Boris's neck. The guard picked up his queen's discarded weapon, just as Kai managed to drag Ana out of the cell. Boris scowled at his misfortune and at the guard as he closed the metal door, and locked him in.

"I fucking hate you, Boris," Ana spat with so much malice and hate that Kai felt himself shiver slightly, as the dungeon guard that had been down there with them closed Boris in his cell.

Kai tried using a different approach now that he had gotten Ana out of Boris's cage; he knew he had to calm her down. "I know Ana," Kai reasoned softly in her ear now, trying to comfort her somewhat. "I wanted to kill him too when we caught him, but I can't, and neither can you."

Ana slowly started calming down at Kai's soft words and she stopped kicking and thrashing about. Kai took this opportunity to quickly drag her out of the dungeon's entrance, but with his arms still planted firmly around her waist just to be safe. Tears still spilled openly onto Ana's flushed cheeks.

Once out side the dungeon doors, Kai loosened his grip on Ana, but before she could do anything, he turned her around and embraced her in a hug, hoping to calm her tears next.

Ana pushed away from him though. She was clearly frustrated and wasn't having any of that. She pushed passed him and stormed upstairs to her room.

Kai watched her leave, surprised by her coldness. He hoped that she didn't hate him too much after that.

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Kai started to have his doubts the next day. After a whole night of listening to Ana cry through her bedroom walls, hear her break objects, and refuse to talk to anyone or open her door to anyone, including him, confirmed that Ana just might hate him as much as she hated Boris. She wouldn't even let the wedding planners come in, so the wedding day grew farther away.

And things were just going from bad to worse.

Just when everyone thought it couldn't get worse, of course, it did.

Boris escaped.

Well, someone had to tell Ana, she was the Queen after all, even if she hadn't been acting like it lately. But the problem was getting her the message.

Since she wouldn't even open her door for the food trays that were set outside her room, Kai and the others thought they would write her a letter explaining how Boris had escaped last night through the cell window who's bars could be taken out, and then slip it under her door.

Of course, Kai had been absolutely furious when he found out. He had sent soldiers to track Boris down, but the attempts were futile he soon found out when the guard come back empty handed. How could nobody have noticed that they had placed Boris in the same cell that a New Found Glory had been placed in a year ago and which Ana had helped them escape through that same window? The sneaky son of a bitch had escaped and Ana was going to have someone's head for it, Kai knew it. And he was right.

About 15 minutes after they had slipped Ana the note, the loud banging and angry sobs could be heard throughout the castle.

"Damn," Tala winced when the noise reached his ears. A New Found Glory as well as Skye and Mariah were all seated at the dinning room table for lunch while Ana's parents were absent, tending to the escapee reports and such.

"Is there anything in that room that could pose as a threat to her?" Hilary asked worriedly to anyone who was listening.

Kenny shrugged, "Anything in that room could be."

Skye's face paled at the boys answer and Mariah shot him a nasty glare from her spot.

"Why don't you go talk to her?" Max suggested to Kai.

"You don't think I haven't tried that?" Kai snapped back , "She won't talk to anyone let alone even open her damn door."

"Break down the door then!" Tyson replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Kai switched his glare to Tyson immediately to stare at him. "Leave me alone," he grumbled.

"Look, maybe you'll get to talk to her after the pregnancy test tomorrow," Ray suggested, "she has to at least let the doctors in for that. Maybe you can get in once they leave or something."

Everyone fell into awkward silence. The group had been dreading the test just as much as Ana had been ever since her parents postponed the date, but it was fast approaching.

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The next day no crashing or yelling could be heard from the queen's bedroom, and she even started to take bits of the food that was laid out for her. Ana still refused to talk to anyone though or let anyone in her room including the wedding planners who were growing annoyed and frustrated.

At noon though, the doctors for the pregnancy test knocked on her door and announced themselves. Ana reluctantly let them inside her room but no one else. Kai and the others were forced to wait impatiently outside in the hall for the results.

While everyone else sat around each other and talked quietly, Kai secluded himself away from the others so that he could straighten out his thoughts. He calmly leaned against a wall and folded his arms across his chest, letting his eyes wander to the ground as his mind whirled. What if Ana really was pregnant? Would he be able to love a child that wasn't his? A child that was forcefully conceived by a man he loathed? Kai knew he could still love Ana, she was his fiancée after all, but the tainted child?

He shook out his head violently, trying to clear his thoughts; this whole waiting thing was making him anxious. _"Stop acting so selfish," _he hissed to himself, "_think about how Ana is feeling right now. What she's going through." _Kai clenched his fistsif Ana could love the baby, then he could too. He was determined to do whatever it took to make this easier on Ana, whatever made her happy.

Kai looked to the queen's still closed bedroom door. If it hadn't been for Boris in the first place, this wouldn't even be necessary, Ana and him would probably almost be done with their wedding plans by now. Kai glared angrily at the door, wishing he could break it in two as he thought about Boris. "_If that bastard ever grows the balls to show his ugly face back here, I will personally slit his throat as soon as I can get my hands on him…"_

And that's pretty much the direction Kai's thoughts went as the time passed on.

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An hour and a half later, the bedroom door swung open, and out walked the two doctors that had entered before.

"She's not with child," one of the doctors told the group of people in front of him. They all let out the breath they had been holding while Kai closed his eyes in silent relief.

"Her majesty's other health thought, still stands to be questioned," the second, slightly shorted doctor added. He pushed the round glasses that were placed on his face further up his nose.

"What kind of other health?" the retired king demanded, frustrated because just when he thought everything was ok, something else went wrong. Kai could sympathize with what the older man was feeling now, for he was experiencing it as well.

"She's recovered greatly physically…" the first doctor answered, "…but her mental health is what worries us." He glanced at his partner briefly before asking; "When was the last time anyone has talked to her?"

Ana's friends looked at each other hesitantly. "Ah…a couple days ago," Ray answered when no one else would. "She hasn't opened her door for a couple of days."

"So your saying that no one's even seen her since then?" the shorter doctor asked, his eyebrows raised slightly. The group shook their heads.

The doctors glanced at each other before the taller one of the two replied sternly; "Then I strongly suggest that one of you find a way to get in that room."

Something suddenly caught Kai's attention that no one else seemed to notice since they were all intently still listening to something the doctors were explaining.

He looked to the slightly ajar bedroom door that had been left open behind the doctors to see Ana off to the side sitting on the edge of her bed. Her bloodshot eyes were fixed to the floor as she finished buttoning the few buttons on top of the tan dress she was wearing.

Kai stared at the body of his fiancée and how sickly pale and unhealthy she looked. He even noticed her hands as they worked with the last button, how they were battered and cut up from throwing and breaking things.

Upon sensing that someone was watching her, Ana looked up and turned her head to the cracked door to see Kai's eyes looking intently back at her. Her blue eyes widened anxiously as she hastily made her way to the door and closed it, but not before their eyes met again, and Kai saw the pain in his girl's eyes. He thought she would be happy that she wasn't pregnant and maybe even come out of that room, but she was still upset. So pained. So angry. She still wasn't going to let anyone talk to her…to help her.

Kai blinked, his jaw clenching, he'd had had about enough of this. Ana was going to get better whether she liked it or not, all she needed was a little push in the right direction. He decided as he stood there, glaring at the closed door, that he couldn't stand back and watch her slowly kill herself anymore. Kai hated being helpless and this was no exception. He was going to make sure someone got in there, and soon.

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Later that day, a quite knock could be heard on Ana's door throughout the castle.

Ana, who was laying in her bed at the time staring at the wall, rolled her eyes. "If it's another wedding planner, then I already told you to leave me alone!" she snapped.

There was a slight pause, then a small voice came from the outside of the room; "It's me…Skye."

Ana hesitated for a moment. Did she really want to talk to anyone? No. But she knew there wasn't really any reason to keep ignoring people. She wasn't pregnant, and she wasn't sore anymore…but she was just upset, and she didn't want anyone to see her this way. Kai had already accidentally seen her and she was ashamed of it, the way she must have looked then.

Ana sighed. It had all been going so good a couple days ago though. She had decided she was going to move on, then her mother opened her mouth. Then Kai stopped her from killing Boris which really pissed her off, then Boris escaped to top everything. The little sleaze ball ran away, escaping the death he deserved. Boy, did that make her mad when she read the letter, Ana nearly broke everything in the room that day.

But then the doctors came and examined her, and said she wasn't with child, so that was good. Maybe this was a sign to try and start over again. Boris was out of her life, even if he wasn't dead, and she wasn't going to be giving birth to a reminder of what happened either. So what was the problem with talking to someone?_ "I'm ashamed of my behavior," _she answered herself, _"A Queen shouldn't act the way I've been." _

Ana sighed again. Maybe letting her sister in was a good idea. Maybe if she talked to someone it would help relive her anger and embarrassment.

On the other side of the door, Skye bit her lip impatiently. It was silent inside Ana's room, what was taking her so long to answer? Was this a rejection? Should she turn around and walk away? Skye turned her head to the right to look at Kai who was down the hall. She shrugged at him, but he nodded at and gave her a meaningful look, encouraging her to wait a little longer.

"_If Ana hasn't told her sister to go away let, maybe she's thinking about letting her in," _Kai thought.

"Alright, Skye, you can come in," Ana's voice was heard from her side of the door, and just then the lock was undone and the door was pulled open by the queen.

Skye snapped her head back to look at the opening door, she didn't dare look back at Kai for fear of what Ana would think if she thought anyone else was around. Skye walked into the room and the door was closed behind her.

Kai smirked when the door was shut and turned to walk down the stairs. It was almost dinner time and he had a good feeling that everything was going to be ok.

Skye turned her eyes to see Ana emerge from behind the door when she closed it. The older sister walked over to her bed, ignoring Skye as she plopped down on it, covered herself up, and slid into her sheets.

Skye curiously looked around the room, as her sister settled herself back into bed. The room was messy with broken vases and things thrown about on the floor. The curtains were closed over the giant window and the smaller windows next to it, only a little evening light was peeking through the small half windows that were near the ceiling. They created small squares of orange and yellow light that painted the floor and dimly lit up the room.

Skye shook her head; this could not be healthy. Another day in this room and Ana was going to go permanently insane. The room even had a kind of musty smell to it from obviously not feeling fresh air from the windows in a long time.

Now was defiantly the time to act. Skye walked over to Ana on her bed and sat down on the side of it. "How are you feeling?" she asked timidly to her sister's back which was facing her.

"Fine," came Ana's reply.

Skye bit her lip. There was a long pause. "_Ok, another question…"_

"Why won't you talk to anyone, Ana?" Skye tried now, "It's not good for you to sit in here by yourself everyday."

Suddenly Ana sat up and turned to face her sister, her eyes down cast though. She clenched her sheets and bit her lower lip, thinking hard about something. Skye waited patiently for her answer while curiously watching the girl.

"I'm…ashamed of by behavior, Skye, I'm sorry," Ana replied quietly. "But I hate to have everybody see me like this and know that a man got the better of me in everyway…I just keep making it worse. I'm a terrible role model for my people, and a horrible queen. I'm… embarrassed in everyway."

Skye shook her head immediately and placed a hand on Ana's tightened one. "Ana, that's ridiculous. We all love you more then anything no matter what happens or what you do. We're your friends and family, it's our job, but we're worried and so are your people…but they don't blame you for anything so neither should you."

Ana let her eyes wander upward to meet Skye's. Blue met blue, and Ana instantly felt calmer under her younger sister's loving gaze. Her fists loosened and Skye gave her a kind smile, retracting her hand.

"Kai loves you more then anything as well, Ana," Skye continued, "you know that. He thinks you're the most beautiful women he's ever laid eyes on and always has. He's happy with you."

"I know, I just have a hard time believing it sometimes," Ana replied, looking up toward one of the windows near the ceiling. "I really wanted my first time to be with him though, I was ready. I wanted to wait till we were married, of course the respectful thing to do, but I wasn't strong enough to protect it, and now it's gone…I should have been more careful."

Skye shook her head again in disagreement. "It was not your fault, it was Boris's. It was a horror no one deserved, and no matter how much you want to you can't go back and change things." Skye bit her lip then quickly added afterwards; "I know that none of us can really understand what your going through, but sitting locked up here drowning in your own self pity, it isn't helping either. Your friends and family all want to help, and we can try to understand if you'll let us."

Ana nodded, "I know, thanks." She reached for Skye's hand and squeezed. "You know what pisses me off though?" Ana continued, letting go of her sister's hand, "Boris got away, and I was so looking forward to watching him die."

Skye gave her a reassuring smile, "We'll get him, Ana, don't worry. But if we don't, it'll still all come back to him somehow."

Ana gave a slight smile in response. She really was feeling better just talking to somebody, getting it all out. She waited for a minute before starting up again.

"I was just so scared…" Ana whispered seriously, half talking to herself and half trying to make her sister understand. "The only thing that kept me going…that gave me the strength to escape, was to see all of you again. I told myself that I was going to see the people I loved again, and that I was going to live long enough to watch my kids and everyone else's grow up together."

Skye didn't say anything, she just looked at her sister with comforting eyes, encouraging her to continue since Ana was now biting her lip again, getting ready to say something else.

"…I want to have three, you know?…Kids, I mean."

Skye thought it was safe to scoot closer to her sister now. She moved over, focusing her eyes seriously on the girl as she said; "I wanted to ask you kind of something about that…are you sure you don't want to postpone the wedding? Because I mean we all, Kai especially, would understand if you do…"

Ana held up her hand for Skye to stop. "I actually thought about that and no, I don't want to postpone it," she answered. "And sure, it's going to be awkward at first, especially on our wedding night, but I trust Kai and that he'll respect me and my personal space if things get out of hand or if I feel a bit uncomfortable. He won't force me if I'm not ready…I already now that."

Ana was starting to feel so much better after getting everything out, that she even felt in the mood to joke around a little. She gave Skye a small smile lightening the mood, and in a suggestive tone replied:

"…Not like Kai and me would do anything like _that_ anyways…"

Skye, noticing the mood change, smiled back, rolling her eyes. "_Right_…then if not you and Kai, then who will be the father then, huh? Tala?"

Ana laughed this time. "No, I don't think so. Besides he's got his sights pretty much set on Gemma."

Skye's eyes widened slightly, "You mean that female cook? The one that makes the spaghetti I love so much?"

Ana nodded. "Aww, really? She's so pretty, they make a good couple," Skye smiled warmly.

"I can't believe you haven't noticed them hanging around each other all the time…"Ana mused with an eyebrow raised. She had an idea that her sister had been to preoccupied with a certain hyperactive blonde to notice.

Skye shrugged it off, but Ana knew better. "Just been busy I guess."

The older sister rolled her eyes. "So…" she started as she leaned back comfortably against her pillow, feeling almost like her old self again as she talked to her sister like they used too, "…how many blonde nieces and nephews can I expect to see running around here in the mere future?" Ana wiggled her eyebrows suggestively at the end just for show.

Skye blushed a bit and laughed, "I think one kid is good enough for me…" she paused before saying; "…but who said they were going to be blonde?"

"Well I just assumed that Max would provide you with blonde headed kids…but I guess I could be wrong…"

"Whoever said they were going to be Max's kids?…Maybe my child will have two-toned colored hair…" the younger of the sisters suggested with a wink.

Ana smiled. "Skylin Marie Williams. You will not be doing anything with _my_ fiancé!" she said as she faked anger.

Skye laughed loudly. "Well you're the one who said that you and Kai wouldn't be doing anything together, so I just assumed that I could take him." The two sisters laughed comfortably with each other after that, and all the tense air seemed to be lifted.

Ana sighed looking to Skye. "Thanks Skye, I really owe you."

"So your feeling better then?"

Ana nodded. "I'm glad you came up here. I needed it." She leaned over to kiss the top of Skye's head in gratitude.

Skye smiled, excepting the thank-you, and got up off the bed. "Well I'm going downstairs for dinner," she replied as she made her way across the room to throw back the curtains on the windows, and evening light streamed in from the outside, lighting the whole room. "Your welcome to join of course." Skye then opened the balcony doors and the side windows, letting a fresh breeze rush into the room rustling everything in it's path. She turned to Ana; "I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be happy to know your feeling better and to see you smile again…" she added, before walking over to the bedroom door and opening it, "…plus there's a couple wedding plans that still need to be made…" Skye trialed off suggestively.

Ana nodded, smiling to her younger sister. "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll take that as a maybe," Skye replied as she closed the bedroom door behind her.

Ana sighed as she watched her sister leave. She owed that girl so much and even more after that talk. Skye acted so much older and wiser then she was, and Ana envied her of that.

Ana crawled out of bed and made sure to draw in a large breath of fresh air before preparing herself a bath: she really did feel a whole hell of a lot better.

She got undressed and soaked in the water for a short while, thinking. Ana told herself for the second time that she couldn't act like this forever; hiding in her room and ignoring her family and friends. She really was just making everyone worry for her, and Skye just proved that they weren't going to sit by and watch, they were going to help her get out of this depression whether she liked it or not, and for that Ana was thankful.

Ana knew that she couldn't do this to Kai either after everything they'd been through; from the moment they first saw each other in the hot spring, and to the moment they finally met each other after a year…all the fights, all the victories, and all the trouble they got into…it just wasn't fair to him.

Ana sighed, washing her body and then stepping out to dress. She went back to her room and put on a nice black, spaghetti strapped dress, that crisscrossed in the back, and went to the floor.

" _I have to forget the passed…" _she thought to herself as she scrunched her long silver hair, _"…and I have to look forward to the good things that are to come."_

Ana put on a pair of black heels before opening her door and stepping out for the first time in several days. She walked down the hall and then down the stairs, musing to her self on the way.

"_I have to be strong, and I have to be a solid model and a good example for my people." _

Ana approached the dinning room; she could hear the soft voices of her friends and family, and the clinking of glasses and silverware against plates

"_Screw Boris! If he thinks he can have this much control over my life anymore, then he's got another thing coming!" _

Ana entered the dinning room, and suddenly the noise and voices she'd heard earlier stopped.

"_Skye was right when she said that I couldn't go back. For better or for worse, it would be different now. Innocence is not one of those things you can get back." _

All faces turned toward the Queen, all eyes stared at her, and all warm smiles were there to greet her, to warm her heart, ending her winter, and making her feel more at home then ever. These were the people she loved, and these were the people she'd do anything for.

Ana smiled as her heart swelled. "So…were are those wedding plans…?"

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PHEW! Ok there you have it. STILL NOT OVER!! I've got something else big planned before this story can be finished. Something with…..hint,hint Boris hint,hint…cause I mean he's not dead yet so why not! Lol

Next chapter is about what happens as the wedding day approaches. What possibly could be knocking at their happy little door as this happy little day approaches! You guessed it! Boris! DUN DUN DUN!

---rayluva4


	27. Bad News

I'm lazy, I know, I'm sorry. Ok so fast-forward a couple months and that's when these last chapters take place. Ok? Ok.

**Midnight- Blazing- Phoenix**- lol I have a feeling that the kid would have been super ugly if she had been pregnant lol. And don't worry about late reviews, take your time…and sorry if I message you sometimes after I update…I tend to be impatient as well as lazy when it comes to fanfiction. Thanks!

**Rebelmewpheonix**- Thanks for the review, enjoy!

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**Last time: **

_Ana entered the dinning room, and suddenly the noise and voices she'd heard earlier stopped._

"Skye was right when she said that I couldn't go back. For better or for worse, it would be different now. Innocence is not one of those things you can get back."

_All faces turned toward the Queen, all eyes stared at her, and all warm smiles were there to greet her, to warm her heart, ending her winter, and making her feel more at home then ever. These were the people she loved, and these were the people she'd do anything for. _

_Ana smiled as her heart swelled. "So…where are those wedding plans…?"_

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**Chapter 27: Bad News **

You may think that, just like in the movies, everything would end like that: everyone's happy, bad guy gone, and even an approaching wedding. But unfortunately not all things end like that. It happened just a couple of months later. It was around three and Ana was in the throne room. She had just gotten finished signing her name at the bottom of a document and stamping it with a royal stamp. The moment she was done, and the document taken away, a middle aged servant came through the solid double doors that were located at the end of the room in front of the royal throne, and approached the young queen with a bow.

"There are no more villagers at the moment to see, your majesty," the woman replied. "And if you are not too busy at this time, Lady Mi (pronounced: 'My') would like to see you. She is waiting just outside the doors."

Ana smiled. "No, I am not currently busy. Go ahead and send her in."

The female servant bowed once again and turned to leave. In only a matter of seconds once she had exited the room, the double doors opened again and this time a young woman, no older then 25 with long blonde hair pulled back into a braided bun and with dark hazel eyes, entered the throne room. She was being followed by 10 girls who all ranged in ages from 10 to 16, and each of them were carry something different in both their hands. This blonde woman leading them was Mi.

Ana's smile grew wider as she watched the blonde woman and the young girls approach her. Mi was Ana's wedding planner, newly hired about a month ago to help make the ceremony perfect. Mi was an ambitions, tall but petite little thing with strong features and pale lips, and also probably the queen's favorite person at the moment. Whenever Ana saw Mi, there were always things to plan, discuss, or decide and Ana loved it. She loved to talk to Mi about Kai and what things should go were and what colors should be what and where people should be placed. After all Ana was beyond excited to marry Kai and it was her wedding… even though it wasn't her first, but she didn't count the one with Boris.

Mi was just as enthusiastic as Ana was. She was always coming up with new ideas or questions for Ana. But the day was fast approaching and things were getting busy for Mi.

Mi and the 10 girls bowed low as they approached their queen. "I need to ask you to make a couple important decisions now, your majesty, if that's alright?" Mi started.

"No problem, Lady Mi, you know I'm always happy too."

"Excellent…" the young blonde woman smiled then turned to the girls behind her. "Alright girls, line up so that Queen Anabell can see what you have," she instructed.

The 10 girls did as they were told, shuffling around quickly trying to get to the right places next to each other. The first girl who looked about 15 and was closest to Mi held a piece of parchment and a pen; obviously she was there to record all the decisions. The second and third girls, one with thick brown hair and the other with black, each held a different kind of flower in their hands. The fourth and fifth girls, redhead twins it looked like, had pieces of different colored ribbon. Girl six sported a book of sketched wedding cake pictures, each drawing more detailed and elaborate then the previous. And finally the last four young girls held out different colors and textures of beautiful rolled up cloth for Ana to see.

"First I need you to choose what kind of flower you want to decorate with then a color of ribbon…" Mi replied in a business like tone, eyeing Ana to see what she would choose. The two girls holding out flowers and the two holding ribbon stretched out their arms so Ana could see the choices better.

Ana looked over the items, thinking hard. She crossed her arms. "Well, I defiantly want roses but in white…"she answered and as soon as the words left her mouth, Mi's head snapped in the direction of the girl with the parchment and pen to see if she was writing this down; and she was. "…and as for the ribbon, I was thinking….light blue and gold."

Mi nodded while the little girl continued to write notes down, the top of her pen flying across the paper. "Wonderful choice, your highness," Mi smiled her approval. "And I will save the cake book for you too look at when you are less busy and have more time so don't worry about that…but for now could you finish by choosing the material for your wedding dress and a material for the bridesmaid dresses?"

Ana bit her lip, helplessly surveying the many beautiful and expensive materials held out to her. This was defiantly different then her last wedding, if you could even call it that, when she didn't get a say in anything, and now she was planning and practically designing the whole thing; and instead of just picking a dress out or having it picked out for you, she got to make it from scratch! Ana looked over the materials again, there was just to many to choose from; she had no idea where to even start with each roll of cloth having it's own texture and color. She couldn't possibly decide this by her self. Ana desperately wanted Skye, Hilary, or Mariah to be there…hell, she wanted all three of them to choose for her.

Just before Ana was about to give up and ask that Mi come back later, Ana's mom entered the room from a small door off to her right, used only by the royal family or close people to the family.

Ana's eyes snapped to her mother as she entered. Her mother walked toward her, looking over at the girls and the things they were holding and smiled realizing what they were there for, but laughed when she finally looked up at her daughter and saw the helpless but excited expression she wore.

"Having trouble, sweetheart?"

Ana gave a half smile in return. "Momma can you please help?" she begged, excited but clearly indecisive.

The retired queen came to her daughter's side looking down at the exquisitely colored and textured cloth before her with serious debating eyes. ""Well, I do really like-"

Suddenly the double doors across the room burst open, stopping the retired queen mid sentence, and a young messenger boy came rushing in, holding a long rolled up parchment in his hands. He hurried across the room, quickly pushed his way through the young girls, approached the queen and her mother, and bowed low and respectively.

"Please forgive my interruption, your majesties…"the boy huffed out, tired from running through the castle, "..but I have an urgent message addressed to the royal family of the Northern Kingdom."

Ana looked over at her mother with surprised eyes for an explanation or some kind of reassurance; this was the first time Ana held ever dealt with anything truly important like this or even from another kingdom in her days as queen yet. But what really surprised Ana was her mother's expression: the older woman had paled slightly and was staring worriedly at what the messenger boy was holding.

A nasty dread started to form within Ana's stomach when she saw her mother. This scroll obviously meant bad news. The young queen swallowed, pulled her gaze away from her mother to the boy, and nodded him forward.

The boy, now seeming a little frightened and shy about approaching the royal women, cautiously stepped forward taking the couple steps up to Ana and her mom carefully. He stopped at the second to last stair from the women and kneeled down onto one knee holding out the parchment and presenting it to them. Just as Ana reached out a hand and took the paper, the boy turned on his heels and sped back down the steps then across the length of the room and out the doors.

Ana raised a delicate eyebrow, confused. "Uh…" the white haired girl was at a loss for words as she watched the messenger disappear form her sight. Weren't they suppose to stay and wait for a response to take back?

"That means that the sender did not want a response," Ana's mother mumbled, reading the dumfounded look on her daughter's face. Ana noticed that her mother's eyes were glue to the scroll Ana her was holding now, she guessed that her mother wanted her to open it quickly. Something was off though, Ana could feel it in the air. She carefully opened the scroll and began to read.

As Ana's eyes scanned over the beautifully written words and as her brain began to piece them together, her face began to turn the same color as her mother's and her hands began to tremble slightly. She looked up from the scroll, her eyes now fearful; _this can not be happening.._.

Seeing the Ana was done, her mother took the paper from her to read it herself.

Ana silently struggled to think straight while her mother read. _I thought that part of my life was over…_Her brain whirled, tying to think off a way out of the coming disaster. What was going to happen to her friends? Family? The villagers? Kai? Herself? Her heart pounded against her rib cage frantically the more she thought about it.

Ana's mother sighed loudly when she had finished, breaking her daughter out of her thoughts. The retired queen let her hands relax at her sides, bringing the paper down as well. "Lady Mi…" she addressed the blonde wedding planner who had been silently watching with curious eyes the whole time as the scene in front of her played out. The retired queen had a new tone to her now. Instead of acting as pale as she looked, she spoke firmly and strongly, playing her part as leader since Ana barely looked like she could even talk at the moment. "…the current wedding discussions are over. I ask you to please send the girls back and retire to your own room for the time being."

Mi gave Ana and her mother confused looks, but obeyed none the less, shooing the young girls off and turning to leave herself.

Next Ana's mother turned her attention to the nearest servant available, and with the same strong voice ordered; "Bring my husband here." The servant nodded, but before she could leave Ana miraculously spoke up. "Kai too," she managed to squeak out. She needed him to be here with her for this. The servant nodded and disappeared.

No words passed between mother and daughter as they waited for the men; they were both frozen inside their own thoughts, each woman thinking different things. Ana was panicking. Her mother was planning.

No more then a couple minutes later, Ana's father came in through the side door to their right with a worried face, Kai following him with just as equally, but a bit more hidden, distressed frown on his lips.

The retired king looked to his wife for an explanation as he came up to her. Without saying anything, Ana's mother passed her husband the scroll in response.

Kai walked over to Ana, his eyes glued to her wondering what was going on. He put a strong arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him. "What's going on?" he demanded leaning over and whispering in her ear. Ana shook her head, cuddling closer into her man's frame, not wanting to answer him. All she wanted was for this to be a bad dream she could wake up from…but when had the bad things in her life ever turned out to not be real?

"What!?" The retired king's voice rang out furiously, echoing thought the room. Everyone's head snapped in his direction. Ana cringed when she saw her father's face, he seemed enraged at the thought of the letter.

Kai let go of Ana to reach out and take the scroll from the older, angrier man. He was really curious now to see that was causing all this. Ana stared at Kai as his dark eyes quickly scanned over the writing.

_To the Northern Kingdom,_

_I have recently been informed that the marriage arrangement and alliance agreement is no more._

_Furthermore I have reason to believe that my most trusted noble, whom I sent to secure this alliance, Boris Grant, had been treated extremely poor while staying with you. _

_The Eastern Kingdom will not stand for such behavior and betrayal, like you so kindly have demonstrated, from people we thought we could trust. We do not wish to share land with people such as yourselves, nor do we think that your unjust rule should stand. _

_I have sent an army of troops north. _

_They will be at your gates in a week. _

_You have been warned._

_King Jarrod_

_Eastern Kingdom. _

Kai snorted. Was this guy serious? He was really going to start a war over Boris? Or was it because he was marrying Ana instead of an eastern kingdom noble? Ana shifted at his side. He turned his gaze to her seeing that she was staring up at him trying to gauge his reaction. Kai gave his fiancée a comforting half smile and put a strong arm around her shoulders. In her eyes he could tell that she was scared and unsure about the whole thing. Boris obviously had survived and went back to his kingdom after he had escaped. And now he was back and either after Ana for revenge or the whole family. Well Kai was sure about one thing: Boris would not lay a slimy finger on Ana again, and he defiantly wasn't going to harm anyone in this castle either. Kai broke away from his angry thoughts to look over at Ana's father, waiting to see what he would say.

But the small group sat in silence for a little while longer.

"Should we send some sort of response back and try to explain…?" Ana's mother wondered quietly aloud, her voice penetrating the silence.

Ana's father shook his head. "No. No responses," he muttered, his mind seeming far off in thought still. "He wouldn't listen."

Ana's eyes snapped up to her father. "Daddy, we have to do something, we can just let Boris do this to our kingdom," she quietly argued.

"King Jarrod won't believe us over anything Boris has conjured up," Ana's father answered a bit louder now as he came out of his thoughts. "The Eastern Queen did not bare any sons for King Jarrod and that's why he sent Boris over here, one of his most trusted nobles, to arrange for an alliance between kingdoms. The King's plan was to create one great powerful kingdom that could withstand any attacks from foreigners or other kingdoms. It sounds like he's not as mad about Boris being 'mistreated' as he is about the split kingdom alliance." Ana's father sighed heavily. "King Jerrod is stubborn. He's a man of his word. So if he says an army is coming, then you'd better be ready because nothing will stop those soldiers. So that's what we're going to do…we're going to fight back."

Ana paled. The guilt just kept raining down upon her. She hadn't realized that she would be doing this much damage and putting a whole kingdom in jeopardy from wanting to marry someone she loved. Ana's fingers started to tremble; she was so selfish…why didn't she just marry the bastard? But no, she had to be a rebel and look where that got her…wow, she was such a great leader.

Kai felt Ana tremble a couple of times against him. He looked down at her…oh god, it looked like she was about to be sick.

"I need a servant now!"

Ana jumped about 10 feet from her father's deafening roar, her heart pounding against her ribs. The same female servant as before came hurrying into the room looking about as surprised and frightened as Ana looked.

"Get my best generals," the retired king instructed the servant with authority. "Inform them that we are going into battle with the Eastern Kingdom. Tell them to get soldiers to go into the village and collect any able bodied males starting from age 15 to fight, we're going to need all the help we can get. Tell them I want them in the throne room to be briefed in 3 hours."

The servant nodded quickly and left.

Ana's father turned to Kai next without wasting a second. "You in, boy?"

Kai nodded immediately. "Of course, sir," he answered, smirking. "And I'm sure the rest of A New Found Glory will be just as excited."

"Good." Ana's father put a hand on Kai's shoulder, breaking him apart from Ana and leading him away toward the doors already starting to talk business.

"I want to fight too."

Ana's father froze and turned around. The retired Queen stared at her daughter.

"What?" her father asked, taken completely off guard.

"Absolutely not!" her mother shrieked, appalled by the very idea.

Ana frowned, already annoyed because she had a feeling they were going to act that way. "I am Queen and I should fight for my people," she explained. Ana took in a strong deep breath, steadying her voice. "It's my duty because it's my fault that this is happening. If I would have just kept my mouth shut and married Boris, this wouldn't be happening and people wouldn't be about to die. It's my responsibility to take care of this mess."

"Exactly why you will not be fighting!" her mother let out sternly, trying to convey the message to Ana that she wasn't going to do it.

"Your mother's right," the retired king supported. He had stopped leading Kai away and was now turned and facing his daughter and wife. "If something were to happen to you, who would rule?"

"Skye."

Ana's father shook his head to Ana's answer. "What makes you think I want to put you into battle anyway," he stated rather than asked. "War is no game, Anabell. It's a man's job."

Ana couldn't help but roll her eyes, irritated. "Daddy…you know I can fight," she argued, staring at him with meaningful eyes, trying to get him to remember what she had done a couple of years ago behind his back.

The retired king put up his hand, palm facing toward his oldest daughter to demand that she drop it. "You will stay. That's final."

With the last word being said, Ana's father turned back to Kai, who gave Ana one last look over his shoulder, and lead him away, talking business again.

Ana scowled at her father's retreated back before storming off to her room. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more villagers or documents to deal with because right now she leaving; she was going to her room to vent some steam and think things over.

When Ana got upstairs, she shut her bedroom door behind her and went over to sit on her bed. Would this mean that her wedding would be postponed again? Cancelled even?

_Great…_Ana huffed stubbornly.

She really did need to stop acting like a spoiled child every time something didn't go her way…but this time she really couldn't help it, she just wanted so badly to fight. After all she was Queen and this was Boris they were talking about. She would love to have a good excuse to rip him apart.

_Oh wait…Boris probably won't even show up. He's too much of a coward…_she thought bitterly.

But maybe if his precious king was dead, he wouldn't have anywhere to hide or anyone to turn too. Maybe he would go in search for someone else to mooch off of and die in the process? Ana laughed at herself and her wishful thinking. _Yeah right. Boris always knows someone and will eventually try to ruin my life again down the road somewhere. He already has twice…_

Ana sighed getting up from her bed to go outside to her balcony for some air. She walked over to the railing and looked down to see the palace guards had already starting coming up with some village males that would fight; they were conjugating them around the castle grounds. Ana looked them over curiously. Some of the were really young…too young in her opinion to be fighting.

She gripped the balcony railing harder. _If they are allowed to fight, I should too…_ she thought angrily.

A question suddenly started to make it's way into Ana's thoughts, and it slowly started eating away at her. Her grip loosed around the railing and she torn her angry gaze of the village males below her to look out in the direction of the real village. From her place she could see the tops of the small houses and huts and the smoke suspended in the air from the fires about a mile away from the castle gates. What about the rest of the villagers? The mothers, wives, children, and the elders of the village? Where would they go when the war started? Surely one of the generals or people in the meetings her father was having would realized that the village and everyone in it would be destroyed as the eastern kingdom would made their way to the castle.

Ana hoped that someone would just stop thinking about strategy for a second to figure that problem out. She _would _suggest it except for that fact that it was 'man's business'…_psh. Whatever. _

Ana spent the next hour brooding over the whole unfair situation in her room. Once a New Found Glory had been informed the boys went down to help gather villagers while Mariah, Hillary, and Skye came to talk amongst themselves in Ana's room about the war. Hillary told the girls that she had been thinking about fighting but Ana, Mariah and Skye convinced her that it probably wasn't the best idea seeing as she really didn't have to much fighting experience. After all, when she had been a part of the castle raids she really hadn't fought at all.

"I guess we'll just all be there for each other and watch then," Hillary sighed, torn apart from the worry she was feeling already toward Tyson. Skye and Mariah were feeling the same as well. Skye couldn't fight, and Mariah was just a servant after all.

Awhile later Mariah had to leave to finish her duties before dinner, while Skye and Hillary left to get cleaned up and dressed for the evening meal. Ana thought it would be a good a idea also if she did the same.

After getting a bath and putting on a nice dress, Ana hurriedly went downstairs for dinner; she was already a bit late, she had been zoning out. She hoped that the others had already started eating without her.

When Ana entered the dining room though, barely anybody was there. Empty seats littered the floor around the table and there were no males at all. The only people she saw were her mother, Skye, and Hillary.

Ana stopped, staring at the women blankly like she was missing something. "Where is everyone?" she asked, taken back a bit. She slowly walked over to her chair and sat down. Immediately, a servant brought a large bowl of hot soup out and placed it in front of her. This servant was followed by three others bringing soup out for the other women at the table as well.

Ana's mom looked up at her eldest daughter to answer her question from across the table. "You father called a meeting with the generals, remember sweetheart?" The older woman's voice sounded empty and tired. "Kai and the rest of the boys were invited as well to help with the planning."

A heavy frown formed on Ana's lips as she listened to her mother. She glared down at her soup.

Ok, so she wasn't allowed to fight. Fine. But now she wasn't allowed in on the meeting or the planning even though this was _her_ kingdom now? _I'm the Queen of this kingdom now but their treating me more as a little kid… _

Ana looked up and around the table. Skye and Hillary were both quietly eating their soup with passive looks on their faces. Neither of them had a place to say anything so of course they kept their mouths shut.

"I'm in charge now," Ana stated, turning her gaze away from her sister and friend to address her mother. "I should be at all meetings, even if I'm not fighting."

The retired queen sighed tiredly, which did annoy Ana a bit, and set down her spoon. She looked back up at her daughter.

"I know you think you should be included Anabell, but think about it…how could you possible help them?" her mother reasoned. Ana gave her a sharp look in response. "Your father has all the help her needs, and you haven't been Queen for even a year yet. Your father and the other man have more experience; they know what their doing. It's best of us women just let them be and not worry our selves with matters we don't understand."

Ana glared hard back at her mother, searching her. Something about the way she had robotically said all that told Ana that that wasn't exactly how her mother was feeling about the subject. Ana knew that her mother was feeling just as helpless and worried about her husband as Ana was feeling about Kai. But the older woman was trying to be obedient and keep her emotions out of the picture; she was trying to be a calm role model, a graceful woman, and an obedient wife. Ana respected her mother for her self control, something Ana always had struggled with, but she did pity the woman a bit.

The retired queen was a perfect example of who Ana would become, who she would be bent into, and how her emotions would be shaped in the years that would pass. It's what 36 years of the obedience and discipline of being queen would do to you.

Well, the only thing Ana felt now was left out, frustrated, offended, and angry…and she didn't hide it like she probably should have. Ana bit her lower lip to keep from saying anything she'd regret; she'd decided that she was going to save it for the next meeting, which she planned on crashing once she figured out when it was…

Good thing Ana didn't even have a year as queen under her belt yet because then she wouldn't have an excuse to be acting this way.

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Ana had been born stubborn. It was her nature. And that's why after her mother had basically said that women where useless to men when it came to war, Ana's mind had rebelled, automatically coming up with new ideas to prove her mother wrong.

She really couldn't help it.

And that's why she was on he balcony now after the quiet dinner, to organized her thoughts so that instead of just being ideas floating around in her head, they could be useful. All of these ideas revolved around the upcoming battle and ways to fight back.

She wasn't sure how long it had been, but soon she started to feel hungry and her stomach started to loudly make its self known.

We just ate…Ana scolded her tummy, putting a hand over it, but it just growled again in response.

Oh, yeah, that's right. Ana had been too busy dealing with her ideas during dinner to eat much. No wonder her stomach was complaining.

Ana sighed, going back inside her room. She threw a long light robe over her nightgown before going downstairs to raid the kitchen. But just at the top of the stairs, Ana was surprised to see her dad.

"Daddy?" she smiled, a bit fake, walking over to him. The older man looked up and gave a small grin. Ana could tell by just looking at his face that he was exhausted. The retired king nodded at her in acknowledgement as she approached. "Hello Anabell."

"How was the meeting?" Ana asked curiously. She hoped that maybe she could get some details out of him since she had not been _invited_.

Ana's father gave a distracted, passive nod. "Fine."

Ana waited, excepting more. And waited. And waited. She stared blankly at him. _That's it?! Just '_Fine'

Ana's father started walking away, leaving Ana to continue to stare at him in disbelieve. Suddenly he yawned. When he was finished he replied; "It was really nothing too exciting…just got the basics out of the way tonight like where all the village males that are fighting will stay and how their training should go for the next couple of days…" He tiredly continued to walk away down the hall and to his bedroom. "There's another meeting tomorrow morning," he added absently back to her. "Now go to bed, love. I'll see you tomorrow." The retired king yawned one last time before disappearing around a corner.

Ana smirked. Ok, so he hadn't exactly invited her to the meeting in the morning, but close enough, right? Besides she didn't need to be invited…she just needed to know when it was. So something useful did come out of the conversation after all.

Ana continued to walk down to the kitchen in a happier mood now, satisfied with what had just happened. Once in the kitchen she quickly made herself a sandwich and grabbed an apple before going back upstairs.

One the way back to her room she passed by Kai's closed bedroom door and hesitated. He had to be back by now so she _could_ go try to persuade details about the last meeting out of him. _Hmmm_…tempting but:

_Nah_… she thought instead passively, continuing to walk and putting the sandwich to her mouth to take a big bite. The last meeting didn't matter anymore because she was 'crashing' the next one. She was going to voice her ideas and opinions even if the generals or anyone else didn't approve of a female being involved. Besides, what could they _do_?

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Ana quickly slipped the emerald dress over her head. Mariah, who was currently behind her, helped to pull the dress down over the queen's body then tied it together in the back.

From the moment Ana had gotten up this morning, she knew she was late, the meeting had already started.

The first thing Ana had done after jumping out of bed was call Mariah to help her get ready. Then she had pretty much flown over to her wardrobe, grabbed a random dress; which happened to be emerald green with a scooped neck, loose sleeves that came to her elbows, and tied like a corset in the back, and put it on. By that time Mariah had come into the room to help and now was with the current job of tying the back of the dress.

While Mariah was busy with that, Ana grabbed a couple of silver bracelets and put them on. Once Mariah was finished with the dress, she moved to Ana's long and tangled hair to throw it up into a messy bun. Ana snatched her crown off it's resting place next to her vanity and put it on right when Mariah finished with her hair.

Ana went over to her closet and picked up her favorite pair of silver heels to wear and quickly sat herself down on her bed to put them on.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Ana?" Mariah asked walking over and kneeling in front of Ana to help put the shoes on her after seeing that the white haired girl was in too big of a hurry to put them on right.

Ana leaned back against her hands on her bed and watched as Mariah put the shoes on her feet.

"There should be no problem with it," Ana answered confidently. She hoped off her bed once Mariah was done and made to head out of the bedroom door. "If not, I mean, what are they really going to do about it, Mari? This isn't like how it used to be. Now I can just about do anything I want."

With that said Ana left not wanting to waste anymore time.

The white haired girl sped down the hallway and down the stairs as fast as her silver heels would let her. Finally she found herself in front of the large wooden doors that led into the meeting room.

She quickly blew the loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her face to join the rest of the free falling pieces around her head that had also not been secured in the messy looking bun. She then smoothed out her dress, straightened her posture, and took a deep breath, making sure she looked at least a little bit in charge before placing her hands on the twin doors and pushing them open.

Ana stepped into the room full of people while servants from inside rushed forward to close the doors behind her. All eyes were staring at her and no one was talking anymore. The queen quickly ran her eyes over the room to see who exactly was all here.

A New Found Glory was and looking at her with unsurprised faces. Her father, of course, was also there at the right side at the head of the meeting table, now looking at her with disapproving eyes. Ana was also aware of the other surprised eyes that belonged to everyone else in the room, which happened to be very important generals to her father. Ana had a hard time understanding why they all looked surprised because, sure she hadn't technically been 'invited', but it was her place to be there.

Ana gave a pleasant, but maybe a little fake, smile none the less as she walked around the long, low table that was set up in the canter of the room to her seat.

The room itself was very long and narrow, with paintings of passed royal generations that ruled there hung around the room; in other words her deceased relatives. While walking to her place Ana did spot her grandmother's painting on the wall opposite of her. Her grandmother, in her early years as queen was gracefully seated in a beautiful chair with her husband, Ana's grandfather, standing boldly at her side. Ana's blue eyes also caught a glimpse of her favorite necklace in the picture, shinning so delicate and beautifully against her grandmother's smooth pale skin.

Ana's hand reached for the piece of jewelry around her neck, and smiled. Being in this room surrounded by her dead relatives' paintings, believe it or not, made her feel closer to her grandmother then ever before, almost as if she were with her. She smiled proudly as she continued to pass by generals who were still staring at her as she passed.

The table the men were sitting around was long and low, stretching the length of the room. They were sitting on plush pillows that were seated around the table. The table wasn't like an ordinary low table though, it had carved and painted on it the lay out of the whole kingdom so that generals and kings could easily strategize on top of it. Ana even spotted the tiny wooden figures littering the table top that represented the armies; blue symbolizing them, and red symbolizing the enemy, or in this case the Eastern Kingdom.

Ana continued to smile, now rather amused by the men's bewildered faces as she finally approached the single throne that was set up in front of the room. She ascended the two steps that lead up to the platform that held the large chair. It really was the perfect place for her to watch over everyone and what was going on.

Ana sat down…everyone was still staring at her, still not talking.

She stared back, annoyed, impatiently waiting for them to resume talking. _Yes, there is a female in the room, get over it… _

"You may resume," she snapped instead.

Slowly, everyone started speaking again about whatever they had been discussing before their Queen had interrupted. Some of them even looked a little hesitate to continue with Ana in the room.

The next 15 minutes passed uneventful and Ana had to force herself to stay awake. Basically in that span of time all that was discussed was the cost and funding of the war. When they were done though, and had switched the subject, the topic instantly caught Ana's full attention, making her think back to a question she had asked her self the pervious day.

"Alright, your majesty," an older looking general to Ana's left, maybe around her father's age, said. He obviously was addressing her father, who was on her right and across from the general, and was staring intently right at him. "All of the village men that are able to fight have been rounded up and are to stay in side the castle grounds for training leading up to the battle, as agreed, correct?"

Ana's father nodded, crossing his arms. "And I presume all is going well, General?" he asked. "Enough food? Living space?"

"Well it is a bit cramped, we even had to extend the boundaries of the campsite outside the castle walls…" the man admitted honestly, "…but they'll survive and I'll make certain that they all receive proper training."

"Excellent. But make it quick. The sooner the better."

Ana bit hr lip as a question she had been wondering about a day ago threatened to spill over her lips.

But as we have established before, Ana is not very good at keeping emotions or thoughts under control.

"Um…hate to interrupt," Ana started, "but I have just one question…"

The men grew quite, still surprised that she had come in the first place, but even more that she dare to intervene in a man's business.

Ana straightened up, putting a deep frown on her face to show how serious she was about the matter. "Were any of you aware that although the men here are safe, all of the remaining villagers, the ones unable to fight, will be wiped out when the Eastern Kingdom comes through?"

All eyes immediately averted the Queen gaze. Ana stared them all down with hard eyes when no one answered. This told Ana exactly what she had feared. She angrily bit her lower lip, trying to stay relatively calm.

"Well, then…" she started bitterly," …since no one else seems to comprehend how serious the matter is, I've come up with a solution: the rest of the villagers; the ones that can't fight, will be staying here at the castle."

The response to this idea was mixed. Some people started muttering amongst themselves, some disapproving and some approving like a New Found Glory, some starting shouting negative aspects, and some just stared at the Queen with their mouths open, disbelieving that she would even suggest such a thing.

Ana wasn't backing down though. If anything she was extremely angry at most of the men's lack of respect towards her. She clutched the arm rests on her chair tightly.

"But your majesty!" one of the men shouted from the far end of the table. He was obviously a lower ranking captain if he was seated all the way down there. "There is no room for so many of them."

Many men nodded and shouted their agreements. Some men even shouted things like 'dirty people", and 'fifthly peasants', who all earned deadly glares from A New Found Glory's side of the table.

" I assure you all that there is _plenty_ of room in this castle for my people," Ana shouted over them, taking control of the situation. The shouting stopped and it grew quite.

The only person to talk now was the older general from before that was seated across from her father. "With all due respect, your highness…" he replied. "…this castle has housed many generations of your family for many years…surely you don't want the villagers inside this historic place…think of the mess and the extra mouths to feed! Impossible!" The man shook his head at the end too, like it would some how show how serious he was.

But Ana was serious too…and in charge. Right now she was going to take advantage of her position.

"Excuse me, who are you?" Ana snapped. The man instantly looked taken back, offended that she had no idea who he was.

"Commanding General Wyse." he answered proudly, leaving out his manners. "The king's highest ranking general."

Ana gave him a bitter smile in return. "Well then 'Commanding General Wyse' , I suggest that if you want to keep your rank, then you not tell me what I can and can't do again."

The General stared back at the Queen with his piercing eyes. It was actually very disrespectful but Ana choose to ignore it because she had won. The man torn his gaze away from the young girl to her father for some sort of support in the situation.

Ana noticed and addressed it. "Do not look at him for support," she commanded. "I am in charge now and I say that the rest of the villagers will stay in my house for protection…so they will."

Ana's father sighed heavily, giving his daughter a disapproving look. Ana ignored that too, because there was also nothing he could do.

Queen Anabell: 2.

General Wyse: 0.

Ana held back a triumphant smirk.

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After everyone had calmed down after that confrontation, the meeting continued. The generals started out by talking using the surrounding woods as hidden attacking points.

"We should take 100 of the best archers and place them on either side of the battle field within the cover of the surrounding trees," the man sitting next the General Wyse replied, pointing to the woods painted on the table that was surrounding the battle field. The battle field, or where everyone knew the fighting would take place, was a very large patch of basically just dirt, everything else like trees or plants had been cleared away when the castle was built and was kept like that for cases of war such as this. It provided a clear place for the men to battle and also had it's advantages for their kingdom's defense. For example, woods was surrounding the battle field, an easy place to hide more soldiers, and the field was also right in front of the outer wall, which was a large wall surrounding the castle about a half of a mile out, making it easier for their soldiers to pack together and defend it. The whole thing was basically created to sure as a trap for any other kingdom fool enough to try and attack the castle. "Our soldiers will be able to assault both sides of the enemy at the same time," the man continued.

Many of the man around the table nodded, or course; this trick had been used for generations. Ana had a slightly different idea though, one that was similar to an idea she had been thinking of yesterday.

"Instead of using all 100 on just the sides and in the trees…how about 25 on each side, then the remaining 50 at the outer castle walls?" she suggested. All eyes turned to her one again only this time they were curious…who would want to change the plan that had worked for generations?

Ana got up off her chair to descend the steps so that she could walk around the room while talking to the men. "So then we could split up the 50 at the wall; 25 remain at the wall, and 25 about…let's say 30 yards behind them on some sort of raised platform that could be built."

"Bu why would be separate them like that, your majesty?" wanted of the men dared to ask what everyone else was thinking as well.

Ana smiled and stopped. "I was getting to that." It remained silent as she continued her walk around the table and people sitting down; it made her feel bigger and more in charge. She continued to voice her thoughts out loud; "Ok, I was thinking that we could have some sort of marker, telling us the farthest the archers on the platform could shoot. This way when the enemy comes and their front line gets to the marker, the archers on the platform can shoot as well as the archers on the wall," she mused. "But I bet your all wondering why it would matter if some archers were on the wall and come farther back…?"

Ray spoke up, understanding dawning on his handsome features. "It's so not only will their front line be destroyed, but lines behind that as well, and all at the same time."

Ana smiled cleverly. "Exactly."

But not everyone seemed to be catching on as quick. Some people still looked a little lost. Tyson was the only one to speak up though; "I don't get it," he stated bluntly.

Ana sighed. "Look, if the archers on the platform are shooting, and the ones on the wall are shooting…at the same time…then not only will the enemy's front line, who will be at the marker, be destroyed but the lines behind it as well since we will have archers shooting from the wall too, who I remind you is 30 yards forward for the archers on the platform," she explained. "This way not all the archers will be shooting at the same place and the arrows won't land in random places only across their front line of soldiers. This way the many more lines can be taken out at the same time. We could even signal the archers in the woods to fire at their sides at the same time, dwindling their numbers even more."

It took a minute but finally everyone seemed to catch on. A lot of them actually looked impressed.

"That's actually pretty good," Max admitted. Many men smiled silently in agreement.

"Then it's settled," Ana grinned. "Tala, you'll be in charge of the group in the woods. You shoot only when the archers at the wall start or you'll blow your cover early. Understood?" She turned to the red headed boy who in turn nodded firmly, not smiling but still looked pretty excited that he would command his own small army.

"Umm Ana --I mean your majesty--…" it was Kenny who spoke up. Ana turned her attention to him as did everyone else. Kenny swallowed, turning a bit pink in the cheeks. "I think I have an idea for the markers…"

Ana smiled warmly, encouraging him to go on.

"Well, we could pile a couple of stones on top of one another, and have three sets of them spread out across the point where the farthest it is the archers on the platform can shoot, making it more clear to see them. Then to make them stand out, but only to us, white paint could be put on the side facing us, so that only we can tell that their there for," he explained.

Ana nodded slowly, liking the idea so far. "They won't even notice…brilliant Kenny."

Said boy beamed proudly.

"What if the rest of the eastern army gets pasted our soldiers outside the wall?" Tyson pointed out, wanting to know. "I think we should have some hot tar ready to rain down on their heads from above them on the wall…that would be awesome!"

"Good idea Tyson. You can be in charge of that," Ana chuckled.

Tyson pumped his fists into the air. "Sweet!"

Ana turned serious again because finally they were getting somewhere. "I would also like to have something different that the eastern kingdom won't…like I don't know, something like those 'gun' things only lighter and that you can throw or roll or something at the enemy but still make the same amount of damage…" she bit her lip when she was finished, looking around the room anxiously. "Does that make sense? Is it even possible? I was just an idea…." She hesitantly glanced at Kenny again; if anybody, he's be the one to come up with something like that.

Kenny nodded confidently though. "I think I can come up with something."

"Good," Ana praised, looking more then pleased toward him.

"But your majesty…what if the archers in the woods need to retreat? The eastern kingdom is bound to find them after they start shooting," one man asked. "You can't expect them to run through the enemy all the way across the battle field and to the gates if they need too…"

Ana thought for a minute; that was a good point. After Tala gave the orders to shoot, some of the enemy would go down, but some were bound to find were they were hiding and if Tala and the others were found it would be about 1,000 (eastern kingdom soldiers) to 50 (Tala and the group).

Ana didn't have to think to hard about it though because General Wyse had come up with a solution. "Our men know the woods better then any enemy," he explained. "We should have a tunnel or opening in the back of the outer wall somewhere for them to come to if they need it." The general then reluctantly looked to Ana for her approval.

Ana nodded smiling. "I like that," she answered, "We'll just have a couple soldiers stationed to watch over the opening just in case."

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The next coupe days for Ana consisted of more meetings and making sure everything was ready for the villagers that would be staying in the castle. A soldier had already been sent down to the village to announce the plans; everyone would need to pack only a few of their belongings and some food, and make their way to the castle in the morning of the battle. It was decided that they would all stay in the throne room since that looked like it should be plenty big enough. Ana already had had a talk with Gemma and the other cooks about how much more food would need to be supplied for the extra load of people. At first the cooks seemed a little overwhelmed to hear about more people coming to stay at the castle and how much food would need to be handy; they were already busy with feeding the soldiers and male villagers. But they replied that they could manage. Ana didn't predicate that they would need as much food for the woman, children and elders, as they needed for the males because the villagers were assigned to bring some food of their's with them to the castle. All the cooks really had to do was spare them some bread, soup, or water from time to time.

Expensive paintings, vases and rugs had already been removed from the throne room to make more room and Ana had extra blankets sent in to sit against a wall just in case they were needed. Everything was ready for the villagers, but what about all the plans made for the battle?

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"You are such a genius, Tyson."

"I know this," said boy replied proudly, turning around and totally missing the sarcasm.

Ana rolled her eyes at Tyson as he faced her. "So do you think I'll work?" he asked eagerly, motioning with is head over the men who were milling around humongous black bowl looking things. These black pots were about half a person's size and were being hauled around, boiling over large fires and having more black pieces of tar shoveled in them.

Ana smiled and nodded reassuringly. "Oh, it'll work. They'll think twice about trying to get through the wall after having this hot stuff poured all over them."

"Exactly! See Hillary, I told you it was a good idea."

The brunette who had been keeping Tyson company before Ana had come over, raised her eyebrows at her boyfriend. "I never said it wasn't, Tyson."

"Well, you implied it."

"Like how?" Hillary snapped, her stubborn side kicking in.

Ana slowly started backing away, hoping the couple wouldn't notice; they really weren't the best people to hang around once they got started. Ana had accomplished what she wanted to do over there, which was just to see how the whole 'hot tar' thing was going, so now she was leaving.

She continued to walk away just a little more before stopping and looking around to see who else she could check up on. She was outside on the castle grounds where all the males were staying, preparing, and setting up for the battle which was tomorrow. Like General Wyse had said earlier in the week, the grounds in side the outer wall really were pretty crowded, and that was saying something since there was about a half of a mile of space between the palace and the wall. Ana was surrounded by people, tents, building materials, noises, movement, and weapons. Right now some of the tents and small campsites were being cleaned up, making more room for the people who were sparring together and training. While some people were doing that, there were others who were helping to build that platform for the archers about 30 yards in from the outer wall and some were helping by doing other things like helping Tyson.

Ana had a hard time finding someone to check up on; there were just to many people moving around. She didn't have to look much longer though because Kenny came running up to her, doing his best to dodge people and still standing campsites, calling her name. Upon coming closer, Ana noticed that her little brown haired friend looked extremely excited.

"Ana, I finally finished them!" he panted, his lungs trying to recover lost air from his run over to the Queen.

Ana gave him a confused look though. "What's '_them_'?"

"You know…you asked me to make you something smaller and lighter then those guns…" Kenny explained, then grabbed her hand and dragged her off. It took Ana a minute to remember what Kenny was talking about but finally she did recall asking him to make hr something like that.

Kenny lead her a ways to the right of the castle where a small space had been cleared. There were only a couple of men where Kenny was taking her and a small brick wall had been set up about ten yards away from where they stopped.

Ana looked at the scene before her curiously: there were men holding small brown, bulking bags obviously filled with something and had small pieces of rope sticking out of them, and were being put in a pile next to her.

The few men at Kenny's station bowed as Ana came over then continued their work.

Kenny picked up one of the bags and held it up to show Ana. "See it's like an exploding bag. We filled these up with gun powder, the stuff that's in guns, and this robe here leads down to it…" he explained pointing things out to Ana as he went. "…after you light the rope then you only have so much time before the fire reaches the powder then _Boom_!"

Ana eyeballed the little brown bag in Kenny's hand skeptically. "Really?"

Kenny nodded. "Watch," he said as he pulled a match (yes, I'm gonna give them matches…) from his pocket and lit the end of the rope. Ana watched as the flames ate it u, traveling closer to the bag before Kenny quickly chucked it over and behind the makeshift wall.

Ana waited in silence for about 5 seconds before she heard a loud _bang_ and saw the bright light of a small explosion behind the wall. The girl jumped, startled by the noise, and then just stared unbelievably toward the wall.

Slowly and cautiously, Ana started toward the wall. She looked back at Kenny to see if it was ok to proceed, who just nodded and smiled her on. She walked over to the wall and looked behind it to see nothing, no bag or anything, but a large black spot splattered over the wall and ground where the bag had disappeared. She noticed it smelled a bit weird too, like a freshly used fire place or when she tried to help one of the cooks make bread one time as a little girl.

She turned her head back toward Kenny with the biggest smile on her face. "You are seriously the best person I know," she praised him generously then going back over to him and giving him a quick hug.

"Glad I could help," Kenny admitted after Ana had let him go. "It's the least I can do since I'm not fighting."

Ana's eyes darkened just slightly. "Well at least your contributing," she said grimly, but quickly her voice changed to happy again. "Besides you helped more then just a little." She looked down at the small pile of exploding bags. "I didn't even think it was possible, or that if it even made any sense when coming out of my mouth," she mused aloud. Ana smiled at Kenny again, shoeing how pleased she was. "Now do you think you couple make as many of these things as possible by tomorrow morning?"

Kenny nodded. "Yeah, I think I can do that."

"Great.." out of the corner of her eye, Ana spotted Skye hanging out over by a group of men who were split up and sparring with one another. She politely excused her self, leaving Kenny to his work, and made her way over to her sister, maneuvering around all the people and things.

"Hey," Ana greeted coming up behind Skye to stand by her, seeing that her sister was just staring sadly ahead of her. Ana followed her gaze over to the blonde know as Max who was busy sparring with a couple of village men and trying to teach them the right way to fight at the same time. Ana also noticed that Kai and Ray were helping as well, only with their own groups of men a couple yards away. Ray was currently showing one of the men the better way to attack to the side, while Kai was just watching his group, with his arms crossed, at the way the men fought with each other, and correcting them when needed.

Ana smiled absently at two of her favorite guys then turned her attention back to her sister and who she was staring at. "Can't keep your eyes off, huh?" she smirked, trying to lighten her younger sister's depressed look. Skye didn't look at Ana, she just have a half smile in return.

Ana bit her lip, trying to figure out what was wrong. "So when are you going to tell him?" she probed, trying to see if that's what was bothering Skye.

Said sister just shrugged. "I think soon…before the battle."

Ana looked again over at her sister's face and decided to stop guessing and just ask what was up. "So why the morbid look?"

An answer didn't come right away, Skye seemed to be thinking, then hesitate to say what it was aloud. "What if he doesn't come back…" she confessed. "…What of something happens?"

Ana's eyes narrowed; what was she supposed to say to that? Of course there was a huge chance that Max nor anybody else might not come back…it was a war after all. The Queen's eyes wondered to Kai who was still in the same position as before. What if Kai didn't come back? Her heart sped up a little…she hadn't really thought about that…she hadn't even had time to plant the idea in her head to be honest.

Ana shook her head to clear it, not wanting to plant that seed. Not yet at least. She straightened up and cleared her face for Skye. "It'll be fine, babe," she answered hoping that it sounded more confident then what she felt. Ana pulled her sister closer and kissed the side of her head comfortingly. "He'll come back. Don't worry."

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_Don't worry. Don't worry. Don't worry._

_Psh, whatever. What a lie. _

How can anybody honestly say that when a huge battle was about to talk place the next day? Well, Ana had said it and now it was getting to her. She had seen her sister's hopeless face while looking at Max; a face that knew that there was about a 70 chance that he wasn't coming home. She understood her sister completely, as probably did Mariah and Hillary too about Ray and Tyson, because now that reality had had time to grow inside her head and she was worrying about Kai now too.

Ana walked up the stairs to the top of the outer wall and looked out to the battle ground below on the other side to see that the white rocked markers had already been set up. After trying to comfort her sister (with lies) Ana had excused herself, she had wanted to find something else to do to keep her mind distracted, but now here she was on top of the wall with nothing else but be with her thoughts.

Ana looked out past the dreary battle field to something much more beautiful. Her eyes scanned over the multicolored sky, and all the forest and hills that were being lit up by the now setting sun. She shivered involuntary; how could she rule all this without Kai if he didn't come back? She shuddered again. Every time her mind would think that, her body responded in some way; some times it would be a shiver, sometimes her heart would pound faster, and sometimes her palms started to sweat. She crossed her arms protectively around her middle. It seemed like Kai was apart of her; she loved him so much that her body automatically responded to just questions her mind asked; hypothetical questions where he didn't come back.

Think of what would happen if it became reality.

Would she break into pieces?

Right now she felt like she would.

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Man I am LAZY! But I did get this done, so yeah…just a couple chapters left but the next one is gonna be juicy!…with fighting and passion and drama WOOT WOOT!

I will try to get it done as fast as I can after I'm done with finishing 'Gladiators' which I think only has one chapter left…so yeah.

Plz review and I again apologize for the way I tend to be a lot of the time…which is of course…lazy.

**But **in my defense: you know how it gets after a while of writing a long story….you like it and enjoy the work you put into it and seeing it grow and develop but still can't wait for it to end so you can start and/or focus on another!

I guess you could think of it as having a kid…even though I don't know since I've never been pregnant… but you enjoy conceiving it, watching it develop and grow once it's born, but after a while you realize how much you love it and can't wait to start another.

Lol yes…I have so much wisdom….

Psh.

Anyway hope you enjoyed it.

---rayluva4


	28. Of Late Nights and Worries

I'm lazy, I know, I'm sorry

So, I knew I was going out of town this week and that I wanted to post a chapter before I left, but I thought '_nah. I can get it done, no problem_…' It's four days before I leave and I finally decide, '_hey better get_ _working on that chapter!_' because I'm such a big procrastinator…but not all the time…so I have been working long and hard to get this chapter posted since then.

Yeah you're probably thinking, '_that's plenty of time, you should have had it in at the second day_!' and I'm sorry it wasn't but I have other things to do too.

But, I'm in such a good mood right now, nothing can upset me! I mean I'm going on vacation in one day and I got two great reviews for last chapter that were simply amazing! It puts the biggest smile on my face when I see people really into my story, it tells me that I'm going in the right direction, and that make me happy! Hopefully I can learn from all this and my writing can continue to develop.

And it's all because of people reviewing and telling me what's going on and how they feel about the chapters and the story as a whole, so **thank you**! Hugs all of you and gives you each gigantic cookies!

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**Innocent Skyangel173** – HEY! Haven't talked to you in a while! I'm so glad you've grown to like my story so much. As soon as I read your review a huge smile just plastered its self on my face. It's really nice to hear from you and hey, if your starting any stories or finishing old ones let me know!

**rebelmewpheonix** – lol, thank you! You're defiantly a contributor to my awesome mood today!

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_**Late time: **_

_Ana looked out past the dreary battlefield to something much more beautiful. Her eyes scanned over the multicolored sky, and all the forest and hills that were being lit up by the now setting sun. She shivered involuntary; how could she rule all this without Kai if he didn't come back? She shuddered again. Every time her mind would think that, her body responded in some way; some times it would be a shiver, sometimes her heart would pound faster, and sometimes her palms started to sweat. She crossed her arms protectively around her middle. It seemed like Kai was apart of her; she loved him so much that her body automatically responded to just questions her mind asked; hypothetical questions where he didn't come back._

_Think of what would happen if it became reality. _

_Would she break into pieces? _

_Right now she felt like she would._

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**Chapter 28: Of Late Nights and Worries **

The wind tickled the surface of her skin sending bumps up her arms.

She shivered involuntary and wrapped her arms tighter around herself…maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to wear her sleeveless night gown out to her balcony on such a windy night, but Ana wasn't really filtering much of any thing in her mind but Kai, and hadn't been the whole evening.

It was a perfectly clear night and Ana was currently spending her time leaning on the railing on her balcony, overlooking the castle grounds. The grounds below her were silent and only a few tents out of what she imaged were many could be seen through the moonless night. Other then the few tents, Ana could make out groups of tiny red ashes that had been left in some of the fire pits next to a few tents. The embers of the still hot ashes glowed dully, but just enough for her to see them through the dark.

Ana was waiting for Kai, not more then five minutes ago she had sent for Mariah to get him.

She hadn't talked to Kai all day, they both had been too busy, and she doubted she would get to see him for very long tomorrow either because tomorrow was the day of the battle. Ana figured now would be better then ever to see him. She wanted to spend as much time with him tonight as possible, just in case – and she hated to even think it – it was their last night together.

She shouldn't really be thinking about him now either, she _knew_ that, there were just too many other things she should be concentrating on now, so many more things to do before the battle tomorrow. But she couldn't concentrate on anything else. The only thing her mind could seem to focus on, that kept her from concentrating, was the possibility that Kai may not still be alive at this time tomorrow. It kept repeating over and over in her mind so many times there was just no room for anything else that could be important.

It was then that the young queen heard the soft sounds of bare feet padding across the cold marble floor of her room and finally stop. She turned around to see Kai standing in the doorway back into her room.

Kai looked at Ana curiously and leaned back to rest on the side of the doorway and then crossed his arms over his chest.

Ana smiled warmly back at him, while unconsciously playing with the ring on her left finger.

The couple stared at each other for a minute until finally Ana slowly walked over to Kai and slipped her arms under his to tightly wrap around him. She then pressed her body closer into his firmer one.

Ana buried her head under his chin and into the front of his neck. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, taking in the sent she missed the most.

Kai furrowed his eyebrows together.

"What's wrong?"

"I haven't seen you all day," she muttered into his skin softly.

Kai wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"I've been busy," he stated.

Suddenly Ana unwrapped herself from him and firmly placed her hands on his chest to push him away. She looked him sternly in the eyes.

"Don't go tomorrow," she ordered. Ana was happy to see him but she thought she'd try one last time to talk him out of fighting.

Kai closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He had had a feeling there was an alternative reason for calling him up to her room so late.

Kai opened his eyes then to see that Ana's eyes were no longer firm and ordering but pleading now as she looked straight at him.

"You know I have to fight," he said.

Ana shook her head stubbornly.

"You're the future king…what will the kingdom do without you…what will _I_ do if something happens?"

"Nothing's going to happen, Ana."

Ana crossed her arms over her chest.

"Well, if you can go I think I should be able to go too," she said bitterly, turning to walk back over to the railing of her balcony away from Kai.

Kai sighed for the second time as he watched her walk away from him. Why couldn't Ana just be one of those girls who didn't want to get dirty and rather watch a battle then fight in it? Sometimes he thought that maybe it would be easier.

He walked over behind Ana and wrapped his arms around her middle.

"I know you understand," he told her softly in her ear, "you know that I'm going to fight, and you know that your not going to do anything stupid, right?"

Ana rolled her eyes. Why was she even bothering to argue with him? This was possibly their last night together, did she really want to spend it fighting with him? Well, she could defiantly think of better things to do.

Ana finally sighed and turned around in his arms so that she was facing him.

"I love you, you idiot," she said quietly now, "you can't expect me not to want to do anything."

"Yes, I can."

Ana sighed again feeling completely defeated. There really was just no convincing him.

Kai stared at her disgruntled expression for a minute while she chose to remain silent and stare at her feet.

He reached out and ran is thumb across the smooth skin of her cheek. To him, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, no matter what mood she was in.

Ana looked up at him, while Kai looked calmly back down at her.

"Sometimes I wonder how I ever got lucky enough to get you…" he mused thoughtfully out loud, "…you came outta no where, and somehow fell in love with me. Sometimes I wonder if I'm really good enough for this."

Ana narrowed her eyes and stared at Kai, trying to read his expression. He stared emotionlessly back down at her, now tracing the line of her jaw with his thumb.

He didn't look mad or upset, she decided, just thoughtful. She took another second before answering.

"Women sometimes fall in love with men who are unworthy of them," she commented lightly.

Kai cocked an amused eyebrow.

"Oh really?"

Ana shrugged.

"You can't help who you fall in love with. You just…do," she replied, smiling lovingly up at him now. Sometimes she wondered how _she_ had gotten so lucky. Instead of ended up married to an asshole – in other words Boris – she somehow ended up engaged to this wonderful man in front of her.

Kai grinned down at his white haired fiancée, and that's when Ana felt herself slipping under that spell he always had over her, and it only took one touch, one look of his stormy eyes before she found herself melting completely away from everything around her. She leaned her face towards his without even realizing it until their lips touched and that's when she felt her whole world explode with feeling.

For a while they stayed like that, neither one saying anything, instead loosing themselves in their kiss.

Kai moved his lips against hers and confidently slipped his tongue inside her opening mouth. His hands he moved to the railing behind her, trapping her between the iron bars and himself.

While he was busy exploring every inch of her mouth, Ana moved one hand up to twist gently in his hair, and the other she place firmly at the back of his neck.

Soon they had to break for air, but Ana didn't miss a beat. As soon as they broke apart her lips went to his jaw line and she started trailing soft wet kisses to the base of his ear.

Caught up in the pleasure that was pounding through his veins, Kai brought both her hands to her hips to press her frame tighter into his.

As you can probably guess, somehow the couple ended up inside Ana's room, and now where finishing what they had started outside on top of her bed.

As soon as Ana pushed Kai back onto her bed, he conveniently fell close enough to the head of the bed to be able to sit up some against the pillows resting there.

He groaned in delight as Ana took advantage of the situation by hitching up her nightgown and positioning her herself straddling his lap. Her arms tightened around his neck as she leaned into him and continued to kiss him long and deep, while Kai's arms snaked around her waist and pulled her closer.

They continued for a few minutes, Ana unsure of how to proceed, and Kai too deep into the kiss to realized that was going on.

But Ana over came her sudden frigidness, after all this was exactly where she wanted to be. This was no time to have butterflies.

Ana unhooked her hands from Kai's neck, ran them gently down his back, and blindly felt her way under the hem of his shirt, then back up his bare skin, easing the cloth up slowly.

Knowing what she wanted, Kai broke away from their kiss only to silently lift his arms over his head so that Ana could easily get rid of the confining shirt he was wearing.

Once it was off and thrown to the floor, Ana went to his neck.

Being able to break away from the kiss gave Kai a chance to think straight for a minute. What exactly was Ana wanting out of this? Was she hoping to have sex with him now that they had finished talking? He clearly remembered the last time he had tried to mess around like this with her and she had stopped him, was she serious now? But what about that whole incident with Boris? There was no way she was ready to go all the way now after what happened, was she?

Kai thought hard about how he should ask her without causing her to relive too many memories. The last thing he needed was Ana depressed again.

Ana trailed her kisses to this chest and Kai was momentarily distracted and she continued down to his lower abdomen.

_Oh what the hell_…one part of his mind was screaming at him…_who gives a shit, she looks like she ready enough now… _

But another part of him was more concerned. Did she really want this? Is she doing this because she feels she's ready or is she being driven by the fear that this could be their last night together? Didn't she want to wait before they were married anyway?

Finally Kai was somewhat able to ignore Ana and her lips on his skin enough to ask.

"Ana, we still have a while, we're still not married yet."

There. He managed to say something. He had to start somewhere at least. Maybe now she could do the talking and he could figure out what was really driving her to kiss and touch him like this.

Slowly, Ana stopped planting kiss on his stomach, pulled away from his skin, and craned her neck to look up at him.

"Since when have we ever followed the rules?" she asked seductively, a smirk playing on her lips.

_The last time I wanted to do this to you_…is what Kai wanted to say but didn't because he suddenly remembered that he hadn't even asked her to marry him yet when he had tried that.

Ana took his silence as a victory on her part and moved back up to his face to kiss him once tenderly, then she moved to his ears.

Maybe he should just ask her instead of trying to maneuver around the real question. He was trying to spare her feelings – he knew she didn't want to be reminded of Boris or the fight tomorrow – but trying to avoid the real question was backfiring in his face.

Ana nibbling playfully on his ear suddenly distracted Kai again.

_Damn it…_he cursed, frustrated that his thoughts kept getting scrambled.

He closed his eyes briefly, hoping to concentrate.

"Is this really want you want?" Kai finally was able to ask.

Once Ana had stopped playing with his ear was when Kai realized how much he had really enjoyed that. He found himself half-wishing he hadn't said anything.

Ana sighed heavily and pulled away.

"Did you turn gay, or something?"

Kai quirked an eyebrow.

"Did I what?"

"Well, I don't think you'd keep asking questions like this unless you didn't want to do this…"

"And what exactly are we doing?"

Ana gave him an incredulous look.

"What do _you_ think?"

Kai knew but he wanted to make sure.

"I keep asking this stuff because I want to make sure you know what you're doing," he explained. "After what happened… with Boris…I thought it would be longer before you wanted to have sex with me."

Ana instantly look down, ashamed. She slowly lifted herself off of Kai and sat in front of him with her legs crossed under her.

"And what about marriage…I thought you wanted to wait," Kai added, feeling a little guilty about bringing up Boris and the past. This was what he was afraid of, but it had to be done. He loved her too much to let her do something she would regret later. At least now she would think about what she was doing.

Kai kept searching her face for another reaction as she continued to look away.

"…Or does this have something to do with the battle tomorrow?"

Ana's eyes flickered up to his for a split second and Kai knew that it had to be the answer. He felt himself growing a little angry.

"Ana, I don't want you to rush into something your not ready for –because of Boris or because we're not married – just because of tomorrow," he told her, anger making his voice sound a little harsh. "That wouldn't be fair to either of us."

Finally Ana sighed.

"Yeah, it does have something to do with tomorrow," she confessed, almost sounding bitter, "because if I can't stop you from fighting then anything can happen. I want to make sure I'm connected to you in every way married partners are, minus the vows. And it has nothing to do with Boris, because I've decided to forget about him, and I am ready to be connected with you. And I'm not doing it out of fear of loosing you – even though that's part of it – but because I love you, and want you, and believe it's the right thing for me."

Ana finally looked up at him.

"That's selfish, isn't it," she said sadly, "I'm sorry, I should have told you."

Kai reached out and cradled her face in one hand. He could feel his anger disintegrating the longer he looked and listened to her. He moved his thumb comfortingly over her skin.

"I must be selfish too then."

Ana smiled slightly and leaned her face into his hand.

"I guess we make a good couple," she laughed quietly, and she saw a hint of a smile start to form on Kai's face.

She placed a hand over the one Kai still had on her face, and leaned herself forward so that their foreheads were touching.

Ana closed her eyes as she concentrated on the relieved feeling that was washing through her among another things. Happiness. Contentment. Pleasure. Safety. Love. The good things only Kai could make her feel all at once.

"So are you ok with this?" she finally asked as she opened her eyes.

Kai, who had watched as her eyes closed and her face relax, smirked now.

"I was ok with whatever you were doing the first time you started to kiss me," he said, "I just wanted to make sure you knew what you were doing."

It was Ana's turn to smirk.

"Oh, I know what I'm doing," she answered seductively as she pushed him back down onto her bed, and this time he laid down all the way.

Kai quirked an eyebrow and the corners of his mouth twitched upward.

"Oh really?" he asked sarcastically as she crawled on top of him, resuming her position of straddling his waist.

"Yeah, I do," she said, laughing lightly. She leaned herself over him, and pressed her chest into his bare one. Her face hovered over his.

"This is what I want," she confirmed seriously, wanting one more time to assure him.

Kai's response was his lips pressed firmly against hers.

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Kai felt warm when he woke up. And it wasn't the kind of uncomfortable, smoldering warmth one sometimes wakes up with, but a content, happy warmth starting from the tips of his toes, to his stomach, and all the way up to the top of his head. And that was just the mental warmth, he could also feel physical warmth and it wasn't just the sun that was shining through the windows and onto his closed lids either.

It was radiating from her body that was pressed up against his. He could feel her soft, naked skin. He could hear her breathing coming out in even, relaxed breaths. He smelt the sweet shampoo that lingered in her hair. In his mouth he could still taste her.

But when Kai opened his eyes, all her could see was the sharp, bright glare of the sun coming in through the windows, hitting him on the side of his face.

Kai groaned quietly and reluctantly moved the arm that was loosely lying over Ana's waist from under the sheets, and covered his eyes with his hand.

Once he sat up slightly and moved his head a little to the side and out of the glare, Kai finally saw Ana's sleeping form next to him.

She was laying on her side, knees slightly bent, with her hands placed carelessly out in front of her, indicating to Kai that he had once been cradling her body with his before he had moved to be able to see.

The thin sheet left on the bed they were sharing – all others been kicked to the floor during the night – was wrapped around the front of her, and her bare feet were sticking out at the end while the rest of it trailed behind her and over Kai's waist.

Ana's back, which was facing him, was mostly exposed, and so he leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder gently.

Careful not to wake her, Kai removed himself from under the covers and off the bed. With his feet planted firmly on the ground he walked along the marble floor of Ana's large room, picking up his clothes and putting them on as he found them.

After slipping on his pants, the last of his clothes to be found, he glanced outside one of the large windows wondering what time it was.

It was then that Kai felt a slightly breeze and noticed that the doors to the balcony were still open.

He smirked to himself as he walked over to them. Ana and him had been so caught up in each other last night to realize they had left them open. But just as he was about to close them, Kai heard noises coming up from the castle grounds outside, just below him.

Again he wondered what time it was. Should he leave to get ready for the battle? It sounded like the soldiers were doing so.

Kai glanced back at Ana.

No. If it got to be too late somebody would come find him. He didn't want to leave just yet.

As soon as he closed the balcony doors, Kai heard Ana stir behind him. When he turned around she was still asleep, in a different position.

Kai grabbed a chair that was pushed under a dresser against one side of the room, and placed it a couple feet away from Ana's bed. He then sat down at looked at his sleeping fiancée.

Her face was looking at his, and the front of her body was pressed against the surface of the mattress below her. When she had moved, the sheets around her had moved as well so that now they were twisted around only her waist and went to her knees.

Kai's eyes traveled up from her creamy calves and along the smooth skin of her back and side. He noticed that the side of her left breast was exposed to him and his eyes caught the single large, dark brown freckle there. He remembered finding it last night and thinking it was somehow alluring. That he had found this mark on her that one else had seen had been exciting to him – and no, he would not count Boris, who probably hadn't noticed anyway.

Kai also remembered tracing the scar of the red X engraved on her chest with a sort of pride.

He smirked fondly at the fresh memories.

His eyes continued up her left arm that was carelessly laid out in front of her and to her soft fingers where he spotted a shiny silver ring.

Kai's heart swelled with both happiness and sadness. Hopefully he would make it back from this war to make it permanent.

Pushing depressing thoughts away, he moved his eyes to settle on Ana's face where wisps of white hair had fallen while the rest lay messily behind her. Her lips were slightly parted, and her cheeks were tainted pink.

Only one word came to Kai's mind as he looked at the sleeping angel in front of him:

_Beautiful._

And she was all his.

He had proved it last night. And for everyone outside this room who didn't see: the ring.

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After sitting there for more then 15 minutes, lost in his thoughts, Kai barely noticed when the door to Ana's bedroom slowly opened and a head of pretty pink hair peeked inside.

Hazel eyes widened at the scene in front of her and there was a soft surprise yelp from the girl as she retracted her head and disappeared behind the door again.

"I'm sorry!"

Kai took a couple seconds before answering.

"It's ok Mariah, you can come in," he replied emotionlessly.

It was a minute before Mariah shyly opened the door wider and stepped inside the room, a faint blush now present on her cheeks matched her hair.

Even though she had grown to consider Kai a good acquaintance – almost like Ana – more then a master or soon a king, she couldn't help but feel embarrassed by what she found. So embarrassed that she couldn't seem to force herself to look Kai in the face and instead found herself bowing low and addressing the marble floor.

"I'm terrible sorry, sir," she squeaked awkwardly, her heart pounding rapidly in her chest.

"It's just that Master Tala was looking for you because everyone is getting ready now for the battle and he asked me to find you, but you weren't in your room, so I thought Her Majesty might know but, uh…"

Mariah trailed off, too awkward to continue. She knew she was rambling and talking way to fast, which she also knew wasn't very appropriate, but it was a bad habit she had when he felt nervous or embarrassed or felt like she was in trouble with somebody higher up then her. She had no problem with her subordinates and other people she worked with; she could hold her own against them. She was also aware that she was using polite names like 'Sir, master, and her majesty', things she didn't normally use around Ana or a New Found Glory anymore. Another bad habit she had when nervous.

Mariah found that all her worrying was in vain though once she glanced up briefly, because Kai didn't look like he had even heard her ramblings. He just continued to stare at Ana's sleeping form, almost as if Mariah was invisible to him.

She waited nervously for some kind of answer or acknowledgement or some reaction that he understood that somebody was looking for him. Mariah awkwardly twisted her fingers that were clasped together in front of her lap.

She was about to repeat herself before Kai finally stood up.

"How long till Ana has to get up?" he asked as he finally looked up at Mariah, who quickly trained her eyes back on to the ground.

"Um…an hour, sir," she answered timidly.

Kai nodded.

"Good," he said as he walked over to her and passed the pink haired maid on his way out of the room, "let her sleep."

Only once Kai had exited did Mariah let out a huge sigh of relief and lift her gaze up to look at her sleeping queen.

She knew she cheeks were turning a deeper shade of pink as she vaguely imagined what had gone on last night in there.

Mariah walked over to the chair Kai had been sitting in, picked it up, and quietly moved it back to its place.

Yes, she would let Ana sleep for another hour before she had to see the village women, children, and elders into the castle.

Before she left the room, her hand lingering over the doorknob, Mariah's eyes wondered back to Ana, and she felt a smile tug at her lips.

The young Queen looked more peaceful and happy then Mariah had ever remembered seeing her.

It was things like this – walking in to Kai staring at his fiancée fondly and Ana looking so content – that made her morning better.

After being around so many moody and anxiously glum people all week, in the wake of battle, it was nice to see that some hope and happiness existed somewhere, no matter how small the amount.

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Bliss. _Utter_ Bliss was the probably the best word to describe how Ana felt when she woke up. It was exactly how she imagined it would feel after a night spent with Kai.

She felt happiness and amazement, and best of all she felt whole. Completely whole.

Her heart was already pounding at a hundred miles an hour and a million butterflies felt like they were tickling her insides, and she hadn't even opened her eyes yet.

She decided right then, lying awake in her bed with her eyes still closed, within the confinements of her room and her bed, that last night was by far the best decision she had even made.

But then Ana noticed something: it was oddly cold. The warmth she had fallen asleep to wasn't engulfing her anymore.

She opened her eyes.

There was no Kai sleeping next to her.

She rolled onto her back to scan the other side of the bed.

Suddenly Ana sat up, clutching the sheet around her to her chest with confusion painted across her face, and searched around the room for the missing dark haired man with her blue eyes.

Panic wiped out ecstasy and her eyebrows scrunched together in hurt.

How long had she slept?

Had Kai already left for the battle? Did he really leave without say something to her?

Within the next half second, Ana had jumped out of bed and quickly threw on her robe. In the next half she was out her door and was hurriedly making her way to the steps, hastily tightening the robe around her body.

Downstairs it was oddly quiet with no one in sight.

_Where is everyone…? Outside already…?_

Ana didn't dare go outside in only her sheer robe even if it was to see if Kai was out there. Think of all the men! Even she knew that that was disgraceful. Not just for her but for Kai as well.

She quickly ran back up the stairs, her bare feet making soft noises on the way up.

_I'll go to the balcony and see if I can see him!_

As long as she got to see him one last time. Sure she was still hurt that he would leave without say goodbye or anything, but this would have to be enough.

On the way back to her room, she passed Kai's open bedroom door and had to back track; she thought she saw a movement…maybe?

She turned back and looked into the open doorway, and to her relief saw her fiancé standing by his bed, pulling a shirt made of thick knitted chains over his head.

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Kai struggled with the chainmail armor he was trying to pull over his head. Once he finally got his arms through the flexible sleeves he pulled the rest over his body.

Kai looked over at himself in the mirror against the wall. The lightweight armor made of many tiny chain rings lay loosely over his white undershirt and blank pants, and came down to just above the knees.

This he could handle, but the plate armor that was suppose to cover his whole body? …No way was he going to wear all of that.

Kai glared silently at the full body plate armor resting over a stand right next to the mirror he was looking into. How was anyone supposed to move in that, let alone fight a battle? If things always went his way, he wouldn't even be wearing the chainmail he had on now, but Kai didn't always get what he wanted.

Alright, _maybe_ he would wear the bottom half of the plate armor, but he was _refusing _to wear the top.

It was then that something in the mirror caught his eyes.

Kai turned around to see Ana standing in his doorway and couldn't help but quirked an amused eyebrow when he saw her appearance.

Her hair was a mess, sticking out in all sorts of directions, and she was wearing a robe that looked like it had been loosely thrown over her body and one hand was clenching tightly to the front. Her cheeks were flushed and her lips parted from the short breaths she was giving out, and her chest was pumping up and down like she had been running.

The feature that stood out the most though was the relief; she had it painted heavily over her face.

"You alright?" Kai smirked at her, teasing her overall appearance as he looked her up and down mockingly.

Ana ignored Kai's teasing and headed straight towards him, throwing her arms around his body.

Confusion laced through Kai's features. He put a comforting arm around her.

"What's wrong?" he asked seriously, all tracing of joking gone.

"I thought you had gone without saying goodbye to me," she confessed into his armor-clad chest.

Kai reached up and gently ran his fingers through her hair.

"I woke up earlier than you so I got ready. Mariah said you had another hour before you had to get up so I told her to let you sleep," Kai explained, "I swear if you still weren't up by the time it was ready for me to go, I would have woken you up to say goodbye."

Ana pulled away from Kai enough to glare at him lightly. She freed one hand from behind his back and punched him lightly in the chest with her fist.

"Jerk," she muttered half-heartedly as she frowned.

Kai smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Queen Anabell!"

Both Kai and Ana turned to see a redheaded servant, who they knew as Emily – seen hanging around Kenny – staring wide eyed at them in Kai's doorway, a large brown basket of clothes in her hands.

Ana resisted the urge to roll her eyes and reluctantly untangled herself from Kai.

She knew it was really inappropriate for her to be in Kai's room so early and with only a thin robe on; it was what every educated woman was taught. She knew that, and she didn't expect Emily to know any better either.

Meanwhile, Emily set her basket down, grabbed a large, white wool blanket out of it, and hurried over to Ana.

The redhead gently pulled her queen farther from Kai by the arm and threw the blanket over her shoulders, helping her secure it around her body in the front.

Kai smiled to Ana as she was led out of the room by Emily, who was looking slightly appalled.

"You know you shouldn't be dressed like that around here, your highness, think of all of the eyes!" Emily whispered to her Queen in horror as he looked over her shoulder and gave Kai a disgusted glare.

Ana didn't know Emily well – just that her and Kenny hung around a lot – but she knew the redheaded servant had Ana's best intentions at heart. It was what Emily was taught, and how was she to know that her and Kai were already lovers?

It was with this knowledge that Ana just nodded at Emily, feigning shame, and then looked over her shoulder to mouth to Kai that she would talk to him soon.

Once Kai was out of sight, Ana turned back to look ahead and silently let Emily lead her back to her room next door.

"Here you go ma'am," the redhead replied as she came to Ana's room and led her inside.

The servant bowed.

"I'll send Mariah up to help you get ready," she confirmed before bowing again and leaving the room, shutting the door behind her.

Ana sighed and smiled to herself. Her mom and dad would be upset too if they knew she had been so indecently dressed in front of Kai.

She shrugged, brushing the notion off.

Nothing could really upset Ana now that she had found Kai, and because all the good feelings she had woken up to this morning were coming back to her. The battle in a couple hours was a bit of a downer, but Ana tried hard to push that to the back of her mind for now. She didn't want to think about it in the fear of ruining her good mood.

She skipped lightly into the bathroom and prepared herself a bath.

And as she bathed herself, Ana let her thoughts of last night occupy her mind, hoping to distract herself from depressing thoughts.

She closed her eyes and imagined the washing cloth as Kai's hand as she ran it down her body.

The warmth from the water engulfing her body was the warmth from his skin.

The droplets of water left on her face was the tingling wetness left by his kisses.

With these thoughts in mind, Ana found time in the bath went by faster then normal.

Once she was finished, she stepped out of the large marble tub, dried herself and hair off with a towel, and wrapped a thin clean lavender robe around her body before stepping out of the bathroom and into her room.

Ana wasn't surprised to see Mariah already in her room. What really surprised her was that the pink haired servant was not lying out an outfit for her, but instead was stripping Ana's bed of all it's sheets and throwing then to the floor in a pile.

Mariah looked up from her work, sensing Ana's presence in the room, and smiled.

"These looked like they needed washing."

Ana could feel her cheeks heating up as she stared at the silk sheets being removed from her bed.

"Um, I can explain that…"

Mariah laughed as she stripped the last sheet from the mattress and threw it onto the pile with the others.

"No need too…I already know what happened," she confessed.

Ana mentally slapped herself.

Great, Mariah knew…not that it bothered the young queen much that her maid knew, but she just didn't want her parents finding out.

Wow. Kai and her would really be in trouble then…especially her. Ana's parents had personally took the time and taught her at a young age all the requirements and rules of being a graceful, educated lady and an honored, traditional queen.

The respectable thing for a lady and queen would be to restrain one's self from having sex until after marriage.

Yep, she would defiantly hear a mouthful.

…But in my defense I bet no past queen had a dead sexy man they loved and choose to marry, but might not because of war…so in my defense I was merely taking advantage of the situation…

"How about this," Mariah started, breaking Ana from her thoughts as she bent down to gather all the sheets in her arms and walk over to the bedroom door where she set them down, "you tell me everything, and it'll be our secret."

Mariah was looking at Ana now, who was shivering slightly in the bathroom doorway from the dampness of her hair. The pink haired girl had her arms crossed confidently over her chest and her eyes were swimming with curiosity.

Ana sighed and smiled.

"Only if you help me get dried off and dressed."

Mariah beamed and excitedly hurried over to Ana and led her to her now naked bed. Ana sat on the edge while Mariah ran into the bathroom, came back out with a dry towel, and finally plopped herself down behind Ana on the bed and crossed her legs under her.

"After I asked you to bring him to me last night, we talked and I tried and failed to get him not to fight today. Then it kinda just went from there," Ana explained while Mariah listened carefully and began to run Ana's damp hair through the dry towel she was holding.

"I explained to him that I wanted him more then anything and that I wanted to be tied to him before he left today.

Ana heard Mariah giggle quietly from behind her.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Common, how was it?" Mariah clarified excitedly.

Ana struggled to think of one word to describe how she felt then and how she was feeling now.

"Amazing."

She was a little disappointed of herself and her lack of vocabulary at the moment, seeing as 'amazing' didn't even being to cover it.

"All that you imagined than?" Mariah whispered.

"And more," Ana agreed.

The pink haired maid smiled.

"Well good."

Mariah could feel good vibes radiating off her queen, and she wasn't the least bit surprised.

"Kai looked happy as well, if you'd like to know," she mentioned casually as she finished drying Ana's hair. She pulled herself off the bed and went to Ana's wardrobe to pick her mistress something out to wear.

"What? When did you see him?"

Mariah smirked to herself, but casually scanned through Ana's clothes making it look like to the queen that it was no big deal.

"I was requested to find Kai this morning, but I couldn't. I figured maybe you knew or maybe he had paid you a visit this morning, so I came in here and well, yeah…"

"Oh really?" Ana asked amused.

"You should have seen the way he was looking at you!" Mariah said excitedly, suddenly turning around to grin widely at Ana, who was still sitting on her bed.

"He was just sitting there," Mariah explained and pointing to a spot just a couple feet from where Ana was, and where just a couple of hours ago Kai had been sitting by himself.

"He was just staring at you as you slept. He looked like he thought he was the luckiest man alive."

Ana looked up at Mariah who was sincerely smiling back at her.

It was then that Ana truly realized how blessed she was, and not just because of having Kai, but because of having all her friends like Mariah, who looked absolutely, selflessly ecstatic for her.

"I'm lucky too," Ana replied softly, meaning it in more ways than one.

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Once Ana was dressed, Mariah walked her downstairs.

After dressing herself in a black, opened back dress, Ana's good mood had started to turn sober as the meaning of the black weight down on her. Everyone in the castle, except those fighting, was required to wear black today, and everyday until the battle was won.

War meant death. Death meant black.

Ana looked over at Mariah who looked just as morbid as she did right now. After just feeling so carefree and happy a moment ago upstairs, both girls finally let reality sink in and the fact that the kingdom was going to war couldn't be ignored any loner.

Ana knew Mariah was hurting just as much as she was. She was just as worried about Ray as Ana was about Kai.

Ana reached over and took Mariah's hand before giving her a comforting squeeze.

"Everything's going to be ok," Ana whispered.

Mariah nodded absently.

Both girls knew it was a lie.

Once downstairs, Mariah left Ana at the castle's open main doors where Ana's mother, in a wide necked black dress, and her sister, in a strapless black dress, were already waiting. They both were standing by the door talking quietly with large baskets filled with small loaves of bread.

As soon as Ana's mother saw her daughter, she smiled sadly and held open her arms.

Ana went to her mom and hugged her tightly.

"Where's daddy?" she dared to ask.

"He's outside getting the army ready. We were just informed by a messenger sent by a scout that the Eastern Army is less then an hour away," her mom explained, her voice wavering slightly.

She gently pulled away from her daughter.

"But never mind that. Your father has it all under control. Right now you have villagers to welcome into your home."

Ana nodded obediently and took a step back.

"They should be starting to come any minute, but let's get you a basket…"

While Ana's mother called for a servant, Skye leaned over and took the time to explain to Ana what was going on.

"Mom's not doing so well," Skye explained, leaning up to whisper in Ana's ear who was a least an inch or two taller than her. "She didn't really want to be here with us…welcoming the villagers, I mean, but I thought it would be good for her, you know? It'll keep her distracted if she helps us pass out bread to the villagers too."

Ana smiled encouragingly.

"I think it's a great idea, Skye," she assured her, "I'm glad you're watching out for mom because unfortunately I haven't been doing a very good job of that."

Guilt was suddenly starting to make Ana's stomach hurt. She had been so caught up in the plans, the strategies, the power, and Kai and her desires that she failed to see how her mother was slowly worrying herself to death over this whole battle and the fact that her aging husband, who hadn't found in years, was in it too.

Now, as Ana took the time to really look, she could really see how it was all effecting her mother.

She watched closely as her mom anxiously gave instructions to a maid a couple feet away from where the two sisters were. The retired queen's hands were trembling slightly and her lips quivered as she spoke.

"It's no problem," Skye told Ana warmly now, "I've got it, you've had a lot on your plate recently. Don't worry about it."

Ana silently groaned.

Yeah…right…

Finally the first of the villagers started cautiously making their way inside the stone castle through the large wooden doors, and a basket of bread was brought out to Ana.

For the next half how the three royal women warmly greeted villager after villager into their home with friendly smiles and small loaves of bread to each family. Servants and maids then led the families to the throne room.

Some time later, Kai, Ray, and Max all appeared in their matching chainmail armor, plate-armored pants, and long blue uniform tunics thrown over the armor.

They made their way passed the girls with small smiles, through the villagers, and outside.

After that Ana noticed that Skye couldn't seem to stop herself from constantly glancing through the crowd of villagers and out the doors as she tried to catch a glimpse of her blonde haired crush.

Ana soon found herself doing the same also for a while, but realized she couldn't see them. There were too many villagers in the way and even though she had heels on she still couldn't seem to see them. She imagined they were just outside the doors on the steps though over looking the army.

Other than that, Ana noticed, to her relief, that the bread welcoming distraction was working nicely on her mom. She looked stable enough for now.

Not too long after that the crowd of villagers coming in through the doors started to die down until there was one else coming in.

A male servant came up to Ana and bowed.

"There are no more villagers coming up from the town, your highness."

Ana hesitated for a minute to think.

"I want someone to go down and check the road up here and in the village to be sure," she finally ordered, "make sure anyone found is taking up here."

The servant nodded.

"I was also to inform you that your father would like to see you outside," he added, then bowed again before hurrying away to have Ana's orders carried out.

Ana glanced at her sister and mother.

"We'll be out later," Skye assured her.

The older sister nodded and then turned to walk out the main doors and into the daylight.

It took a minute for Ana's eyes to adjust to the harsh sunlight. She put a hand above her eyes to shield them momentarily and when she did she finally got to see her army.

Her eyes widened in shock of how many soldiers there were. Had there really been this many living on the grounds for the past week?

Thousands of identical blue uniform tunics, silver armor, and shinning helmets and weapons all looked back at her as she stood on the large landing of the top of the stairs she was on. Soldiers in shinning metal clothes stood crowded together in the space that was provided between the castle and the inner wall.

The inner wall's doors were open; revealing more soldiers filling in the space between the inner and outer wall which was a good half-mile apart.

Ana couldn't see the rest of the army because the inner wall was in her way. But she could hear them talking and moving, clinking armor and weapons together noisily. They sure sounded like thousands of people to her.

"Anabell."

Ana turned to her right to see her father and all the boys from a New Found Glory next to him. He was dressed in full armor, standing next to a massive dark brown speckled horse, and was smiling widely at her.

Ana smiled back, glad to see her father, and walked over to him.

He put a heavy metal arm around her shoulders.

"I wanted you to see the men that are fighting for your kingdom up close," he explained sounding excited, "this is your army."

Ana's heart swelled with sadness at her father's words…how he was excited she didn't understand. A New Found Glory even looked excited. But all Ana could think of as she scanned over all the battle-ready men was how many of these brave soldiers would die today? How many of the families waiting inside her house would be broken apart after this war?

Ana frowned, already feeling sick to her stomach.

Maybe it was a woman thing. For all the people who couldn't fight, it was their job to worry; it was all they could do. For the people that would fight, they had no time for worrying. All they felt, Ana imagined, was excited nervousness.

Now she wished more then ever that she had a suit of armor on as well.

Thinking of armor, Ana suddenly noticed that her father was the only one standing up on the landing next to her that was wearing a full bodied armor suit.

She pulled away from her dad to glare at her guy friends. Kai, Ray, Max, Tyson, and even little Kenny were all wearing only long shirts of chainmail and plate armored pants under a blue tunic. Tala on the other hand didn't have anything. Just a couple dozen arrows slung over his back, a sword and sheath tied around his waist, a bow in his hand, and a blue tunic with regularclothes underneath.

"Why the _hell_ aren't any of you wearing this?" Ana hissed clearly irritated as she reached over and knocked twice on her father's metal chest plate, while he in turn just frowned heavily at his daughter's language.

All the boys calmly looked at each other and shrugged.

"We're not used to wearing plate armor," Max answered, "it'll slow us down."

"Well what happens if you get a sword through your chest, huh? I bet that'll slow you down…" Ana growled.

"And _you_!" she exclaimed rounding on Tala and pointing angrily at him, "you might as well just go buck naked."

Tala had the nerve to chuckle at her.

"Don't be so dramatic."

Ana was about to unleash her full anger out on him and the rest of the boys before she thought better of it. Instead she pinched down at the bridge of her nose and let out a heavy sigh.

_Why, _why_ do I have to care about the guys with such huge egos…so big that they can't even wear proper armor into a battle!_

"None of my groups that are going into the woods are wearing anything metal besides swords," Tala explained to her, "We'll make too much noise…and what good is a surprise attack if the enemy knows where you are?"

Ana took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to calm herself down more.

"You remember where the emergency entrance back into the castle is in the back, right?"

Tala nodded.

"Good. And if anything goes wrong or as soon as the Eastern Army figures out were you are, you are to come back, understood? I mean it…nothing heroic."

"We know the plan, Ana. We've been over it a thousand times," Tala smiled patiently, "you worry too much."

_That's all I can do…_ Ana thought bitterly but instead just sighed in defeat.

"Ok, Tala…whatever you say."

She turned her head back to her dad, not wanting to deal with the boys anymore.

"Is everything in order?" she asked.

The retired king nodded.

"The archers on the platform and outer wall are stationed and ready to go. Tar has been made and the barrels have been spread out along the top of the outer wall and are ready to use when needed, and same with the piles of exploding bags," her father explained. "All that's left do is to station the first half of the army out side the outer wall to meet are enemy, and to send Tala and his group of archers out to the surrounding woods."

Ana nodded.

"Good."

"What about the villagers? How did that go?" her father asked.

"There all here, but I had someone go down to the village and check to make sure, "Ana answered, "they should be getting settled, and someone should be explaining to them the rules."

"Ok then, if your done out here, I think it's time for you to go back inside. The Eastern Army will be here very soon."

Ana looked at her father and reluctantly nodded. She put her arms around her dad and kissed him on both cheeks.

"Good luck, daddy."

"Thank you, love, and don't worry, everything's going to be fine, you'll see," he smiled tenderly and kissed her back, "and I'm sorry this had to happen to you so early in your reign."

Ana nodded silently and sniffed as a single tear escaped her eye.

The retired king pulled back and gently wiped the droplet away from her cheek.

"Now go back inside and tell your mother and sister to come see me, and hurry."

Ana turned toward her favorite boys first and gave each one a quick kiss on their cheeks.

"If any of you come back to me in less then perfect condition, I'll make sure you wear a full suit of armor for the rest of your lives," she threatened.

They all laughed and rolled their eyes at her, while she went to Kai.

She silently wrapped her arms around him with more tears in her eyes.

Kai hugged her back protectively and brought her closer to him.

Ana took her time breathing him in, trying to permanently pound his scent into her memory.

Finally, after they'd pulled apart, Ana leaned forward and brought their faces closer before pressing her forehead to his.

Kai brought his hand up and placed it on the side of her neck, holding her firmly in place.

"I'll be here when you get back," she whispered.

"Sounds good."

After that was said, Kai took his head away from hers slightly and moved his hands to the side of her head before pressing his lips to the top of it.

Ana touched his face tenderly on last time, and with tears threatening to fall, turned away and went back inside.

It didn't take long before Ana found her mother and Skye inside speaking to an older servant in front of the throne room.

"Father wants to see you both," she choked out once in hearing range of her family.

Skye and her mom looked at Ana and her red teary eyes and quivering lips with concern.

"I'm fine," Ana whispered before either of them could say anything, "just go see dad."

Skye and the retired queen hesitated before the youngest daughter took her mother's hand and led her away after one last look at Ana over her shoulder.

"Can I get you anything, ma'am?" the elderly servant asked kindly after the two women had gone.

Ana shook her head and turned away, walking toward the steps to go upstairs.

She viciously wiped at the wetness in her eyes as she ascended.

He's going to be fine…he's going to be fine…don't be so selfish…don't act like this…

But no matter how many times she thought it, she still couldn't make herself believe it. She couldn't shake her feelings of helplessness and desperation.

She had a feeling in her gut and hoped to god that it was wrong.

Ana walked the rest if the way up the steps and took one of the many hallways to her left, where half way down she turned a corner and climbed another, smaller set of stairs.

At the top of those she took another left and started walking down the narrow corridor. At the very end was a door propped open and light was shinning at her as she walked toward it.

She walked through the door and out into the day once again.

Ana was now on a long narrow rectangular shaped balcony that was higher up and over looking more of the kingdom than the balcony in her room did. This balcony even had a veranda over it made of expansive blue cloth to shade the people under it from the sun.

The half-mile between the inner and outer walls was now in her line of vision and she could clearly see the barren battle ground in front of the outer wall as well. She could even see now the full extent of the kingdom's vast army as half of them made their way through the outer wall's large doors and stationed themselves in organized ranks on the battle field.

Ana sighed and looked to her right to see maids busying themselves in the balcony to make everything ready. This platform was where pasted royal women and their personal maids had watched battle; watched friends, soldiers, and loved ones fight and fall below them. This was where her, her mother and sister, Hilary, and Mariah would stay to watch the chaos that was fated to happen below them.

Ana slowly walked over to where three large cushioned, expensive chairs had been lined up for the royal women, and gracefully took her seat in the middle, largest one.

When she looked up to observe the mass of blue, shinning metal, flags, and the landscape of her kingdom that was sure to be destroyed in the next hours, she saw, in the distance, a line of blood red and silver appear at the beginning of the battlefield, that seemed to grow larger and more vast by the second.

The dread she had been anticipating, slowly over came every cell in her body until she could even feel the icy coldness of it in her toes.

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For the first time, I really have nothing to say down here.

Wow.

Oh, except that I forgot to say **Disclaimer** at the top…

--rayluva4


	29. Chaos

I bet you all are just waiting for this long story to finally end…well me too. Lol.

**Disclaimer. **

**rebelmewpheonix** –Thank you! It's one thing to read a review that's about how good the story is or what your doing right, and it's another to hear about how it affects you when you read it, which is what I really like reading about in your reviews. It's nice to be complimented and everything, but its also cool to see how readers respond too…you know what I mean? Lol anyway, I think those kind of reviews are the best, but that's just my opinion, so thank you again! IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

_Recap: _

_Ana slowly walked over to where three large cushioned, expensive chairs had been lined up for the royal women, and gracefully took her seat in the middle, largest one._

_When she looked up to observe the mass of blue, shinning metal, flags, and the landscape of her kingdom that was sure to be destroyed in the next hours, she saw, in the distance, a line of blood red and silver appear at the beginning of the battlefield, that seemed to grow larger and more vast by the second._

_The dread she had been anticipating, slowly over came every cell in her body until she could even feel the icy coldness of it in her toes._

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**Chapter 29: Chaos**

Utter chaos would be the only word that would come to Ana's mind if asked to describe what she saw.

Getting a good look at what was going on below her from her balcony spot, she saw dozens of dead bodies already, both wearing red and blue, men fighting and swinging weapons at each other every square foot, and blood and severed limbs everywhere.

It had been maybe three hours into the fight and already the enemy had penetrated Ana's outer wall and were now fighting with the survivors of the army that were stationed outside the outer wall and the rest of the army that had been waiting inside the wall.

From what Ana cold tell the fight was about even. Soon after the fight had first started, the archers stationed on the outer wall and the platform behind them killed a good fraction of the enemy's numbers once they had crossed the marked rocks. Then Tala and his group, hidden in the trees, opened fire on the outside ranks of the enemy, killing another good number and at first caused a lot of confusion and surprise among the opposing army. Eventually Tala and his archers had to retreat to the emergency entrance in the back once the red army had caught on to them and their hiding places.

There had only been a few casualties in Tala's group, but after coming back inside safe grounds all of them had put on what little armor was left lying around and were out fighting in the big battle seconds after.

Ana rolled her eyes at the memory.

Well, at least Tala had enough brains to put on a little armor before heading back out.

The tar and exploding bags along the outer wall had been used up already too. After Ana's army outside the outer wall had become too overwhelmed and had retreated inside the wall, the enemy had immediately assaulted the wall and it's doors. Enemy ropes had been tossed up on top of the wall for attempts of climbing it but her blue soldiers quickly cut them down. Then the tar was poured over the side and onto the heads below it.

Ana shivered as she remembered all the screams of agony that had followed. She doubted she would ever get the sound out of her head.

After the tar had been used up and another good portion of the red army had been destroyed, the exploding bags were thrown over and down on heads and out into the vast attacking army.

Now that had been a sight to see with the curling smoke, bright flashes of light, loud noises, and of course the knowledge of picking off more of the enemy's army.

Ana had told herself then that if Kenny made it through this – and hopefully he did – she was going to kiss him right smack dab on his lips in front of everyone for being such a genius.

Ana's army managed to keep the red army out for a good hour before all the tar and exploding bags were gone. Then finally the enemy penetrated the outer wall and came flooding through the doors.

A little while after the fight had first started Ana could feel herself growing more confidant and happy with the way things were going, but now she wasn't so sure anymore.

She looked down at the raging battle going on below on the half-mile of land between the inner and outer walls and estimated again that the fight was still pretty even. It seemed like whenever a blue soldier would slay a red, a blue soldier died somewhere else, and vice versa. Slowly but surely numbers on each side of the armies stated to diminish leaving more room to fight for the survivors.

Ana continued staring down and watched as Kai fought with three red soldiers at once Through this whole war it was rare that Ana took her eyes off him, afraid that if she did someone would strike him down when she wasn't looking. But right now she did rip her eyes away from her fiancé but only to seek out her friends and count them.

Tala. Max. Tyson. Kenny. Ray. Her father.

Good, they were still alive, and for the most part unharmed.

Feeling a little relieved; her eyes darted back to Kai who – thank god – hadn't been struck dead while her attention was elsewhere.

None of her friends had died yet but Ana could still feel her heart tearing when she another blue soldier lying dead on the ground after being impaled with a weapon or missing a limb or two, or even sometimes a head.

Every time she spotted a tragedy like that, she couldn't help but think about all the elders, women and children in the throne room somewhere below her. Who's brother could that have been? Who's Son? Husband? Father?

Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes, and if it wasn't for Skye and her hand Ana was squeezing at the moment, she knew she would break from all the sadness and stress. That's why not once had she let go of her sister's hand.

The young queen knew she wasn't the only one on this balcony on the verge of a breakdown either.

Her mother, sitting frozen on her right and looking probably just as bad as Ana did herself, hadn't moved an inch since the fight had started. Her lips were pressed tightly together as she watched the scenes unfold below her, her posture remained plank straight against the back of her chair, and her hands clutched tightly to her chair's armrests.

There had been many times Ana had wanted to say something to her mother –anything to relax her position – but truthfully she was afraid of what her mother's reaction would be. The older woman looked like she might break into a thousand fragile pieces if her name was even muttered, starting from the deep worried crease above her anxious eyes.

Even her mother's own personal servant who had accompanied her up to the balcony knew better then to disturb her.

Other then her mom and that servant, the only other people on the balcony with Ana was her sister, one of her sister's personal maids, Mariah which was Ana's maid, and Hilary. All other staff was downstairs either cooking, helping out with the villagers needs, bringing in wounded soldiers, treating them, or just worrying themselves to death. Ana imagined that lots of them probably already found a window or look out spot to watch the progress of the battle outside.

Mariah and Skye's servant, Jade, a fair-skinned quiet dark haired girl, both stood obediently and silently to the side for anything the royal siblings might need. They too watched the battle with anxious expressions on their faces.

Hilary was standing in front of the balcony railing with her body pressed up against the stone, her posture tense, and her eyes locked on the battle below. Ana couldn't tell what emotion lay on the brown haired girl's face since her back was facing the young queen.

Skye's expression was the calmest out of all the women. She just watched the fighting quietly with the rest of them and comfortingly held Ana's hand.

This didn't surprise Ana…after all; she knew her younger sister acted way beyond her years.

Ana bit her lip, momentarily drown away from Kai and the two men he was currently killing, and out of the corner or her eye glanced at her younger sister.

Skye was probably more cut out for the queen job then she was. Skye was calm and collected, didn't easily let her temper or emotions cloud her judgement, and she was logical and practical. A perfect leader by nature.

Ana on the other hand was not. She was irrational, quick-tempered, easily distracted, proud, and passionate. She knew she was the kind of girl that thrived on her emotions…and look where that got everyone.

Ana realized she was probably just better off swallowing any pride and just asking Skye for some tips.

A sudden _Bang!_ jostled Ana out of her thoughts and brought her eyes instantly back down to the fight below to find the source of the noise.

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**_Just minutes before…_**

"…187…188…189…" Tyson counted out loud as he stabbed his sword through another three soldiers wearing red. Once his last opponent fell to the ground, he quickly scanned around the area for his friends, having a minute before someone else attacked him.

He spotted Ray a little ways in front of him fighting off two red soldiers.

"What are you on, Ray?" Tyson yelled not even bothering to hide the confidence in his voice; no way was anyone ahead of him.

Ray used his left hand to punch one of his opponents square in the jaw, sending him to the ground, and with his sword in his right hand he plunged his weapon through his other opponent.

"…201," he answered back, and then looked over his shoulder to smile at Tyson and was about to ask what he was on, but Tala, who was behind Tyson somewhere and hearing the conversation going on, decided to put in his number too.

"225!" the red head yelled proudly.

"195!" came Max's voice from somewhere behind Ray.

Tyson's mouth fell open realizing he was in last place and kicked violently at a rock close to his foot, also kicking up some dust in the process.

"Damn it," he muttered, but then he thought of his little nerdy friend and his spirits lifted.

"Where's Kenny?"

Max was the one to yell his answer this time.

"Last time I saw him he was helping with those exploding bags, and he mentioned he had 148 –"

Tyson's eyes lit up excitedly.

" – but that was an hour ago."

Tyson immediately deflated.

"I guess I better get moving then," he grumbled to himself as he scanned the area for someone else to fight. He saw to his left that there were a bunch of red soldiers up against one blue one so he ran over to help.

As he was running over, Tyson spotted Kai a little way ahead.

"How many you got, Kai?" Tyson asked reluctantly once he knew he was close enough for the dark haired male to hear him.

With a grunt, Kai forcefully ran his sword through his opponent's stomach.

"211," he replied.

Tyson did nothing but frown moodily and engaged himself in another battle.

Meanwhile, after Kai had watched the life leave his enemies eyes, he pulled his sword out of the body and pushed it to the ground. Once the body was out of the way, Kai could see everything happening in front of him, and just ahead near the outside of the inner wall he spotted Boris.

Kai narrowed his eyes and locked them on the man. He could feel his blood starting to boil and he could swear everything going red before his eyes.

Boris was just up ahead looking more frightened by what was going on around him then anything. He wasn't engaging in battle, but was clutching tightly to a shield and sword in each of his hands while looking around frantically for any danger that might threaten him.

Despite how angry Kai had become, he couldn't help the bitter chuckle that escaped his throat. He figured Boris was probably forced into this battle and judging by the look on his face he wanted to be anywhere but here, and was obviously scared shitless.

Kai's bitter laugh turned into a scornful half-smile as he eyed Boris and the grip on his weapon grew tighter.

Boris had a good reason to act as he was…because Kai was going to kill him just like he had promised…right now.

With his eyes locked on Boris through the chaos, Kai ran for him.

Just as Kai was within feet of him, Boris seemed to sense that danger was coming and when he turned he found Kai and his hate-filled eyes coming toward him with his weapon raised.

Boris's eyes widened in terror. He had been praying either Kai would die before he spotted him, or just not see him at all because he knew what was going to happen if Kai caught him. He raised the shield in his left hand to defend himself as Kai finally got close enough to take a swing.

As their fight went on and Kai continued to take forceful swing after swing, Boris managed to block everything with his shield.

Kai finally managed to knick Boris's sword, sending it flying to the ground. While Boris was distracted for s split second, Kai balled his left hand into a fist and did something he had been dying to do ever since he had first laid eyes on the man, which was punch him square in the face.

Adrenaline pumped fresh within Kai's veins as he looked down at Boris who had discarded his shield and was clutching his now bloodied face in his hands and moaning in pain.

_Pathetic coward…_Kai thought as he looked down on the man…_didn't even put up much of a fight…_

Somewhere behind him people were shouting loudly. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a group of blue soldiers on top of the inner wall running frantically away from the top of wall's doors and the other way.

Kai didn't even bother wondering what was going on as he turned his attention back to the man lying helplessly in front of him.

Boris flinched when Kai placed his foot roughly on his chest and pushed him over from lying on his side to lying on his back.

Boris kept holding on to his nose and over his mouth, but looked up at Kai fearfully.

"Just hold on…let me, um…explain…" Boris begged feebly, his voice muffled though his hands.

Kai scowled.

He could be one of those people that reached over and handed their enemy a weapon to have a second fair chance to fight him…those kind of people where the ones that didn't want to kill their enemy while they were lying begging on the ground. Those people wanted to kill their enemies in a fair fight, either because they didn't want that on their conscience or because they were just good people.

Well Kai didn't give a flying fuck if this plagued his mind later in life or not…he didn't even care if this classified him as a bad person, because Boris had his chance and Kai was done waiting for this opportunity.

Boris was going to die today, and Kai was damn sure about that.

"Your more fucking screwed up then I thought if you think I'm going to let you keep your pathetic life," Kai hissed menacingly, "I'm good on my promises…and I promised I would kill you a long time ago."

As Kai was saying this, his scowl started to turn into an evil smile.

"You can't hide behind the law anymore or your king. Your out in the real world now, and there's nothing that can stop me this time."

Boris's eyes widened fearfully at the man's words, and to Kai's pleasure he started to shake.

At this point Kai's heart had completely turned to ice as he looked down on the man that had ruined Ana's life and had caused him a huge amount of anger, pain, and worry.

Kai placed the tip of his sword to Boris's neck and his muscles tensed, ready to stab through the skin.

Suddenly there was a loud _bang_ behind him and a force came up behind him so strong that it sent him flying forward and off his feet and then his whole world went black.

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**_Back with Ana…_**

Ana's eyes frantically searched through the thick smoke that was circling up from where the inner wall's doors used to be.

"What the hell just happened…" she mused aloud to anyone who would answer.

She looked on her right to her mother who had finally broken through her trance and was now tense and suspended inches off her chair and leaning forward with surprised and worried eyes.

Ana switched her gaze to Skye who instead of looking calm now looked frightened.

Obviously neither of them knew what happened either.

It remained silent on the balcony as every woman anxiously watched and listened.

Slowly the smoke began to clear and Ana could scarcely make out little brown bags scattered everywhere.

_...Something must have happened with them…maybe someone accidentally set off all of them at once…?_

Ana's current thoughts scattered when she spotted shapes through the thinning smoke and seconds later dozens of soldiers clad in red appeared and ran through the destroyed gaping hole on the inner wall. Now red soldiers were fighting the last defense ranks of Ana's army who where stationed right in front of the castle's main doors. Even though she knew it would be a while and would take a lot of work for the enemy to start assaulting the castle doors, it still didn't make her feel any better.

And now instead of there just being chaos in-between the walls, there was chaos _everywhere_. Soldiers were still fighting outside the inner walls, but now a lot of the blue soldiers were running in behind the red to help the rest of Ana's army defend the castle.

Among those blue soldiers going to help their comrades in battle, Ana spotted Max, Tyson, and Ray.

From the corner of her eye, Ana saw her sister, Mariah and Hilary who was still in front of her against the railing, all relax their rigid muscles.

Ok, so their men were still alive…but where was hers?

Ana scoured over the ruble and surviving soldiers on the battlefield looking for any signs of Kai.

A full minute passed and still she saw nothing.

Fear started to claw and grab at the insides of her stomach and suddenly Ana felt like she couldn't breathe.

She was anxiously holding herself inches off her seat now as her widening eyes desperately continued looking. She tried focusing even more and this time she was slower to look over every body and every piece of dirt, hoping not to miss a thing.

Just when she started to feel herself go light headed, she spotted something moving that couldn't by itself.

Below her, a little ways away from the destroyed wall, she saw a fairly large piece of stone start to move. It was then she noticed that feet and legs were sticking out from the rock, and finally when the piece of ruble was removed, Ana saw something that made her at first hopeful and then scared.

Yes, it was Kai who had emerged from underneath the large stone and at first Ana had felt like a large rock had been removed from off her shoulders as well, but then she saw his condition.

Blood was flowing from underneath his hairline and leaving a trail down the side of his face, and dirt was caked to the fresh blood and not just on his face but on fresh gashes as well as all over his arms and legs. What was worse, when he finally pushed the rock off himself, Ana noticed that his right arm was bent out of shape into an unnatural position.

Ana sucked in a sharp breath and didn't let it out for a long time. She quickly went over the facts in her head:

So, there was a huge gash on his head, could be a possible concussion; his arm was definitely broken; and there was a possibility that he might have a couple broken ribs by the way the rock looked like it landed on him.

The battle wasn't even over yet either. Kai was badly injured and still had to fight.

There was even someone wearing red coming towards him now.

Next thing Ana knew she had propelled herself from her chair and was now right next to Hilary pressing herself up against the balcony's stone railing. She watched eyes wide with fear as that guy wearing red noticed a blue survivor and made it his duty to go over and get rid of him.

Ana's heart pounded wildly against the inside of her chest as she watched the soldier in red get closer to Kai.

It wasn't still seconds after that Ana realized she was screaming his name.

She knew Kai couldn't hear her so she forced herself to stop.

Below, Kai was still struggling to get up, but just as the red soldier was inches from him and about to kill him, Kai noticed and grabbed a fallen sword that was fortunately close to him but unfortunately it was closest to his right hand. This was the hand that was attached to his broken limb, but he was forced to gab it anyway and block the enemy's attack at the last minute.

Kai cried out in agony, and Ana could swear even out of all the other screams and noises she could hear him. The sound cut through her heart and she could almost physically feel it breaking in two.

Ana was screaming along with Kai as her hand flew to her breaking heart and she tightly clenched that skin on her chest.

Immediately she felt two pairs of hands on her. She guessed it was Hilary who was right beside her, and Mariah who probably ran over to help her.

By now the red soldier knew Kai was in pain because of his arm and easily kicked the weapon out of his hand and away. Now Kai was weaponless as he lay on his side in front of his abuser.

Suddenly Ana watched as the red soldier kicked her fiancé in the gut and that was all it took for her to close her eyes, slide down the stone railing, and land on the floor on her butt with her body curled to the side against the stone.

Hilary and Mariah instantly followed her down while gripping her arms and hands tightly. Even Skye had leapt from her chair and was now kneeling in front of Ana reaching out her hands for her older sister's face, concern and fear evident in her surprised expression.

But to Ana they were invisible; she wasn't really seeing them, only felt their hands on her skin and she focused only on a piece of stone made into the floor ahead of her.

Kai was dying and she knew it, and it caused every nerve in her body to feel like they were frozen and she broke out in an icy sweat and her whole body just felt like a cold hollow thing. Her chest was heaving up and down, her breaths coming out as short rugged gasps for air, and her cold fingers searched for something to grab on to and keep her anchored. She vaguely remembered the hands tightly holding on to her and quickly snatched up and desperately dug her fingers into the person on her right's arm.

Mariah, maybe?

By now she felt dizzy and tears were starting to pool in her eyes.

This could not be happening. Was god ever going to give her a break? It was like it was some sort of immoral crime for her to be happy and whenever she felt like she was beginning to be, she was struck down.

Story of her life; it never failed.

The dread and fear that had started to creep up on her earlier had now almost fully down its job on her. The only place left was her heart, but now it was spreading even to that, and it was the worse pain so far. On the surface nothing was physically wrong with her but on the inside she felt as if pieces of her were being literally pulled apart.

She lifted her head and banged the back of it on the stone behind her because she felt like she was going crazy. A hand immediately flew to the back of her head to stop her from doing it again.

"_Ana…Ana stop…"_ she heard a voice order her, but it sounded distant. She was far too gone.

She pictured Kai on the battlefield with his unnaturally twisted arm, screaming in pain as he tried to defend himself and then was kicked in the gut.

Maybe that's what caused Ana's subconscious mind to act and harness a level of anger she had never managed to control before and use it to power herself. She let go of Mariah's arm, slapped all of her friends' hands away from her body, got up and used her new anger to push passed her friend's and family.

Maybe it was the fact that she was suffering ridiculously and couldn't take it anymore, so she threw herself away from the balcony and into the castle and down the many flights of stairs to the main doors.

Maybe it was the thought of Kai dying and being forced to live in a world for the rest of her life where he didn't exist. She ordered the two young, confused, and scared looking guards stationed in front of the main doors to unlock and open them for her.

Ana wasn't sure if it was just one or a combination of all three that drove her to steal a sword from one of the guards as she passed, and then slide in-between the small crack in the door they had opened for her to the raging battle outside.

The next thing she knew she was facing the overwhelming chaos she had spent hours watching from a safe place above, but now with only a sword and the shear crazed determination what was pumping through her body.

As she walked through the battling men, dead set on her determination, she suddenly noticed the awful smell that hung in the air all around. At first it smelled only of dead bodies, then Ana started to make out the smells of tar, smoke, gunpowder, and sweat. But those weren't the only smells. For those who could recognize it, it smelled of exhaustion, lost hope and triumph, and bodies battling against each other. It was the smell of the human body after it had been used to the limit.

This was what knocked Ana out of her angry, determined trance and into reality and what was going on around her.

Along with her pervious emotions, she felt fear now, but it was a hyper feeling…an energized fear.

She knew she had done a lot of stupid things in her life; some turned out good and some bad, but she realized this had to be just about the nuttiest. And stupidest. And most dangerous. She was aware that this could turn out badly: she could die and then Kai, leaving the enemy with a victory even if they did end up losing, leaving the kingdom leaderless, and leaving her family and friends to mourn.

She thought this was either the bravest thing she had even done or the most idiotic as she continued walking through the fighting men who didn't even notice a woman wearing a crown and dress was passing them.

Ana suddenly realized how hard it was to tell the difference between the two.

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Since the explosion, Tala had yet to see any of his friends. He hoped they were holding their own and tried to focus on the possibility that they were helping the soldiers stationed in front of the castle fight off the enemies there.

Tala himself had been too far away from the blast to be affected by it, and when the smoke had cleared, decided to continue to fight on the outside of the inner wall.

It was here as he fought off another red enemy that he saw out of his perpetual vision, a flash of white and something shiny, but it was a different kind of shiny then from a metal weapon…it was glittery shiny…and was that a dress?

Tala finished off his opponent with a stab to the chest and looked over.

…_What the fuck… _

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Just ahead of him was Ana, determinedly staring straight ahead with a sword clutched tightly in her hand.

"Ana!" he yelled towards her, but she either couldn't hear him over all the noise or she just chose to ignore him.

"Ana!"

_…What the hell does she think she's doing out here? Is she crazy…!_

Tala watched as Ana seemed to spot something ahead of her and the expression on her face changed from frightened determination to angry desperation.

Something was going on…

His eyes followed in the direction hers was set to try and figure out where she was heading.

Ahead of him he could see many things she could be looking at, but the one thing that caught his eye and immediately understood why, was Kai laying on the ground either unconscious or close to it with a man in a red uniform holding a sword above him.

By now Ana was close to Kai and the man, and when she was right up behind the red soldier, she took her weapon and with all her strength stabbed him straight through his back and through his chest.

The soldier immediately froze his actions and finally toppled over to the side with Ana's sword still in him.

Tala was relieved that Kai and Ana were safe for the moment and started weaving his way through the fighting crowd to go to them.

But just then right before his icy blue eyes, an arrow appeared from somewhere on his left and hit Ana square in the back.

Tala's eyes widened in horror as the white haired queen fell to her knees, hunched over against the pain.

Quickly he moved himself forward, pushing through the crowd to get to her all the while calling her name.

Suddenly another arrow wedged itself into the skin on her back next to the other.

As he was moving, Tala looked over to where the shots were coming from to see a guy –seeming to stand out against everything else – in red loading another arrow into a bow and pulling it back.

Tala knew he wasn't going to get there in time, so as a split second decision he picked up a bow and two arrows that were lying discarded next to him and a dead body lying on the ground. He loaded both arrows at the same time and shot them at Ana's attacker, hitting him first in the side of the stomach and then the neck, but not before the red enemy had shot his third arrow.

With the bow still in his hands, Tala sprinted towards Ana who was now lying on top of Kai, three arrows sticking out of her back.

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So originally I planned this to be the last chapter and it to be really long, but I wanted to stop there and give the rest to you in one last chapter. But I'm done with Gladiators now, just finished that last chapter on that story and posted it, so it won't be long before I get the last chapter of this up and running. All I really have to do is type it up.

I hope your enjoying the last bit of Just Wanna Be Me, and plz review!

Also, if you're interested I just finished Gladiators.

--rayluva4


	30. How I Live Now

I'm lazy, I know, I'm sorry

THE LAST CAHPTER!

Oh and I did take a couple sentences from the movie 'P.S. I Love You' (which is a totally awesome movie!!) and put them in this chapter…couldn't help it. I took a paragraph from the book 'Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul IV' and put it in here also.

Just thought I'd let everyone know.

Disclaimer.

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_Recap: _

_Tala knew he wasn't going to get there in time, so as a split second decision he picked up a bow and two arrows that were lying discarded next to him and a dead body lying on the ground. He loaded both arrows at the same time and shot them at Ana's attacker, hitting him first in the side of the stomach and then the neck, but not before the red enemy had shot his third arrow. _

_With the bow still in his hands, Tala sprinted towards Ana who was now lying on top of Kai, three arrows sticking out of her back. _

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**Chapter 30: How I Live Now **

"Ana…Ana!" _Someone was calling her name in the distance, but she didn't care; she couldn't look away from her target. No matter how dangerous it was for her to be doing what she was or even out there, nothing could shake her determination to kill the man that was standing over a not moving Kai with a weapon. _

_She was locked on and there was no way she was moving her attention anywhere else. _

_When she was finally right behind the unsuspecting red soldier, she raised her sword and stabbed him through the back. _

_A sense of power washed over her when she let go of her weapon and watched as it fell to the ground still inside the body. _

_She looked down at Kai with his twisted arm and bloodied head, and was about to kneel down and see if he was ok when she felt a shearing pain start up from a single point on her back and shoot through her whole body. _

_Letting out a silent scream, she fell to her knees beside Kai and doubled over. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth trying not to think about the liquid she could feel gushing from her new wound and down her back. _

_Somewhere beyond the pain she heard her name being called again, but then before she could think anymore about it, another wave of pain overcame her as she felt another sharp weapon embed itself into her backside. _

_Her eyes filled with tears as she looked down at Kai. She tried to say his name but nothing would come out. All she wanted was to see if he was still alive just so she could know before giving into her pain and the sudden deep sleepiness she was feeling. _

_It was while she was reaching out to him that another pain shot through her, this time forcing her to give into the darkness. _

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Ana's eyes snapped open and unwelcome light flooded into her sensitive eyes. She squinted, looking left and right scanning her surroundings.

Her foggy and confused mind registered that she was in a warm room made of stone, she was in a soft bed, and there was light coming in from behind her and shinning on her sheet that covered feet suggesting a window behind her. Instead of a door there was a long doorway with a white curtain covering the space to give her room some privacy. She also noticed a small bedside table to her right containing a large basin filled with water and a rag on its edge and then many rolls of bandages beside it. To her left she noticed a small gold basin hanging from the ceiling with light smoke coming out of it.

Ana recognized the gold basin and the scent that hung in the air as healing incense. She remembered one of those basins being in her grandmother's sick room when she was dying. Ana had asked her about them and her grandma explained that it's believed that that particular incense has healing powers. Sadly it didn't save her grandmother though.

Suddenly, thinking about her deceased grandma made her realized that she was in the same type of room, meaning she was in the medical ward at the back of the castle.

Ana shot up into a sitting position remembering the battle, Kai dying, and her running out in the middle of it.

As she sat up a sharp pain shot through her back and she hissed through her clenched teeth. A hand subconsciously flew to her chest to calm her pounding heart, and she slowly lay back down. Through the silk white robe placed on her body she felt a thick layer of bandages around her chest that went all the way to her belly button.

Ana didn't really remember what had happened. All she recalled was staring at Kai wishing him to open his eyes before her whole world went black. The next thing she knew, she was here.

But the one thing Ana was positive about was that she had to find Kai.

He couldn't be dead; she wouldn't even think it.

He _had_ to be there somewhere in the medical ward.

Taking a second and a deep breath, Ana fought against her aching stiff body to get up and get to her feet.

When she was sure she was steady and her stiff knees weren't going to give out – how long had she been lying there? – she went to the room's curtains as fast as she could and pulled them open.

Now she was looking at a long hall in front of her.

Ana remembered walking these halls as a kid, going to visit her grandmother when she was sick, and remembered passing all the closed curtained rooms on each side of her.

The hallway was much the same now only this time all the doorways had closed curtains because of war casualties, not disease.

The medical ward was much the same as she remembered and though it had been years since she's been there – she hadn't stepped a foot there since her grandma died – she still could imagine the layout of it.

The medical ward was a separate building at the back of the castle set off by a single hallway that connected the castle and the ward. The base was made up of four hallways, with rooms on either side, that connected together to form the shape of a long rectangle, and was a couple stories high. Each room along the outside had a single window, while the ones on the inside of the hall didn't, and every room had a bed and space to stick more people in there if needed to be shared, a table, incense bowl, and two white curtains pulled together for a door.

From her room, which was right in the corner of the outside rooms, Ana could see a hallway to her right and one right in front of her, both showing no signs or nurses or life; everything was eerie silent.

Ana suddenly realized that this probably only meant there were only a couple of minutes to look for Kai's room until a nursed passed or noticed her.

But where should she start? There were dozens of room just on this floor, then what about the other floors?

Ana tried not to think about it too hard and randomly picked the hall to her right to start her search.

Quickly and quietly, the young queen went from one room to the next, zigzagging across the hall to the rooms on either side.

At each room she slyly pulled back a bit of the curtain hanging over the door and peeked inside. When she didn't see Kai, she quickly removed her head and moved to the next room to do the same thing, hoping not to get caught by some of the busy nurses in the rooms or disturb some of the wounded resting soldiers.

It took Ana a couple of minutes before finishing that hall and then moved to the next. She continued looking and finding it seemed, everything _but_ what she was looking for.

So far she'd seen missing limbs, weapon wounds, scorched flesh, and mangled torsos, but still no Kai.

It was in the second hall, the fourth room along the outside, that when Ana stuck her head inside the curtain she found her fiancé.

Her eyes lit up and she smiled widely as relief overcame her and she threw herself into the room. As she got closer she saw that Kai's eyes were closed so she walked quietly the rest of the way to his bedside.

Ana looked down at her dark haired fiancé with tears threatening to spill over her cheeks. She stared at him adoringly as she placed one of her hands on top of his chest that was steadily rising and falling under his loose long-sleeved white shirt. She felt his heart beating in a steady rhythm under her hand too, and it caused her own heart to stutter erratically a few times from happiness. God, she was glad he was ok.

Ana's eyes traveled back up to Kai's face where she saw that his head had been bandaged up and tuffs of hair were sticking out where the bandages weren't placed.

Ana gently put her other hand to the side of his head, just under his hairline where she remembered seeing blood flowing. She furrowed her eyebrows worriedly…hopefully it was nothing too serious. After all this, wouldn't it be just great if Kai died from head trauma?

She also remember seeing Kai's twisted, unnatural bent arm and looked to his right side to see that the arm was tightly bandaged to two small wood planks on each side of the limb.

His arms looked to be in the right shape again but just thinking about how the nurses got it back that way sent shivers up her arms and she winced.

Other then those major injuries, Ana saw nothing else but scrapes and bruises on the bit of chest that the his shirt didn't cover at the top.

She looked back down at Kai's blank, sleeping face and lightly traced over his eyebrows and down the side of his cheek lovingly.

At least he was still breathing…at least he was still alive. Ana could appreciate that.

"Ana? There you are!"

Ana whipped around to see Mariah holding back the room's curtains with a surprised but relieved expression on her face.

The pink haired servant hurried over to Ana and put a firm hand around her upper arm.

"I came to your room to check on you, but I couldn't find you anywhere! Common, let's go back to your room and have your wounds checked again, which I doubt your suppose to be walking around with yet."

The girl's expression went from relieved to disapproving. She gently tugged Ana towards the way out.

Ana took one last look at Kai before reluctantly removing her hands from him and silently let Mariah take her back to her room.

Once Ana was seated back on top of her bed with orders not to move, Mariah quickly walked out, and not seconds later returned with a willowy older looking woman following behind her. The woman was wearing a thick gray dress and nurse's hat. She walked over to Ana with a friendly smile on her face and bowed.

"How are you feeling, your majesty?"

Ana shrugged.

"Ok…sore, I guess."

The nurse nodded, "Mind if I take a look?"

The young queen shook her head so the nurse instructed her to sit on the very edge of the bed, and then started removing the silk white robe Ana was wearing at the top.

Mariah closed the room's curtains and silently walked over to stand at the end of Ana's bed just in case her white haired mistress needed anything while the nurse was working.

"How long was I out?" Ana asked her pink haired maid quietly as the nurse started peeling bandages away from her chest.

"A week."

Ana nodded blankly a little surprised she had been out for that long, but her face didn't show it.

"So what's the report?

"Were do you want me to start?"

"I don't care. Just tell me what you know."

Mariah hesitated, thinking deeply.

"I'll start with you: after you threw yourself into the battle, you were shot in the back with three arrows – gave all a heart attack I might add – " Mariah glared as she continued, " luckily Tala was near you, saw the whole thing, and managed to get someone to help him drag both you and Kai over here to the medical ward. Not long after that, King Jarrod I guess decided it wasn't worth it anymore and called a retreat and left with his survivors. I'm not sure how much they suffered, but as far as our army's casualties go, we lost about half our men. At the beginning of the week the ward was over flowing with the wounded soldiers, but now most of them have either been released or the dead burned to prevent disease. The villagers have also been sent home and the damages to their homes are being fixed."

Ana's eye widened with guilt.

"And what about –"

Mariah waved her off knowing what she was going to ask.

"The guys from a New Fond Glory are still breathing, don't worry…but unfortunately not without consequences."

Mariah stared seriously at Ana and took a deep breath.

"Aside from a few gashes and broken bones, there were no fatal injuries. Kenny, however, has lost his left arm."

"What!"

Ana winced as she jerked forward causing the last bandage the nurse was peeling off her back to snag some loose skin from her wounds and pulled it off too.

The nurse put a hand on Ana's bare shoulder and pulled the rest of the last piece of bandage off.

"Please stay still, your highness," she begged.

"What happened?" Ana asked hoarsely, ignoring the nurse.

"He was too close to that explosion, I guess, and his whole left arm was severely burned…so they had to amputate it," Mariah answered sadly, "it was already starting to become infected; they didn't have a choice."

The nurse reached over to the table next to the bed and wet the rag on it in the bowl of water then gently patted it on Ana's back wounds, while Ana shook her head sadly.

"Shit…" she cursed softly, her heart constricting in pity for Kenny and the pain he must have went through. The little genius that lost his arm to the brilliant creation he had invented. How ironic.

"He'll be ok," Mariah assured her mistress now gently, "his recovery is moving fast and already he's getting used to his new handicap, or so he says."

"You've talked to him?"

Mariah nodded reading the expression on Ana's face.

"You can see him when the nurse thinks it's ok for you to be moving around."

"But I just – "

"Pardon me, your highness, but you already reopened your wounds by walking around earlier," the nurse replied timidly as she finished cleaning her queen's wounds and moved back to the bowl of water to rinse out the rag.

Ana groaned and then looked back to her pink haired maid.

"So what's the deal with Kai?"

Mariah bit her lower lip nervously and moved her eyes to the floor.

"He's been out all week too," she explained carefully, "he's head injury was pretty severe when he fell unconscious…they think he's in a coma, and they're not sure when or if he'll wake up."

Ana remained silent. The only sound was that of water trickling from the rag the nurse was wringing out. Then there was the sound of ruffling clothes as the medical woman took a small bottle full of brown looking goo from a pocket on her nurse's dress. She opened it up and started to apply a little bit of it to Ana's wounds.

Ana could barely feel the sting of the medicine on her open wounds; her body felt almost completely numb. Her mind was even blank, she couldn't form words, and she only nodded indicating that she had heard the explanation.

So what did this mean? After everything, Kai was as good as dead?

She couldn't believe that. She wouldn't believe it.

"…There's something else you need to know," Mariah said hesitating at the end. She nervously wrung her hands together.

Ana looked up blankly, to numb to show any emotion. Besides, what could possibly be worse then what she just leaned?

"Your father may be dying too…actually I think he _is_ dying."

Ana didn't say anything after that; even after Mariah bowed awkwardly and left with an excuse to check on something else.

She silently sat on her medical bed and let the nurse finish wrapping fresh white bandages around her bare torso, only asking herself one thing:

Her life couldn't be that tragic, could it? Her father and fiancé dead…?

And that's when she realized that it could.

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It was another four days before Ana was released from her room. After several visits from her guy friends, her nurse, her sister, Hilary, her mother, and after more bandages and medicine, reports from Mariah on Kai and her father's wellness, she was finally allowed to leave the medical ward room and return to her own.

The first thing Ana did when she was freed was check on Kai, who she quickly found out hadn't moved an inch since the last report on him was given to her.

Next she visited Kenny, who had yet to be released from his room – as a precaution – and saw that he was actually doing really well without his left arm. He didn't seem to be the least bit fazed about the missing limb when Ana had walked in and talked to him.

It made her heart crack just that much more when he put a huge smile on his face when he greeted her and asked how she was.

Either he really was sincere, or he was just a good liar. Either way it still hurt her to see him that way.

Last, Ana went to her father's room.

It had almost been over a week since the end of the battle and still her father was hanging on to life. From the reports she had gotten from Skye and Mariah throughout the week, her dad had been deeply impaled in the stomach and was confirmed dying, just a couple of days ago, from lack of nutrition from not being able to keep any food down, and from infection of his wound.

Ana stood outside her father's medical room and took two big, deep calming breaths.

She hadn't seen him since before the battle had started, but she had a feeling she didn't want to see what was behind those white curtains.

With a pounding heart and sweating hands, she pulled back the curtains and entered the room.

This room was just the same as all the others. It had a bed, a table with a bowl and rag on it, and a window behind the bed. The only difference was that this room held her family.

Ana's eyes caught the sight of her father first, and she realized she had been right about not wanting to see what was behind the curtains before.

He was lying still on the bed, wrapped up in blankets from his neck to the tip of his toes. His lids were covering his eyes that had dark circles under them, and his skin looked clammy and pale. It was obvious he was sick and it broke Ana's heart to see her dad so fragile. He wasn't supposed to be vulnerable; he was a leader, a king, a father, and the rock in her family, not a sickly old man.

Ana quietly and slowly walked over to her father.

Her mother, who was sitting beside her husband's bedside and leaning against him, looked up to meet her daughter's eyes.

Ana was immediately taken back by her mother's blood shot eyes and grim expression. The woman looked just as pale and sickly as her husband did.

Ana averted her eyes quickly and continued to her dad's bedside. She looked back at Skye, who she remembered was sitting in a corner of the room when she had walked in, for some sort of comfort or reassurance.

Her little sister was curled up in a chair sleeping with worry lines creasing her face, so feeling disappointed and awkward, Ana looked back to her resting father.

She leaned over the bed and reached out her hand to his face. She jerked away in surprise as soon as her fingers touched him. His clammy cheek was ice cold to her warm skin, almost as if he was already dead.

Tears welled up in her eyes. She closed her eyes over the moisture, forbidding them to fall. She listened to the only sound of her father's ragged breathing. Behind her she heard the stirring of Skye waking up. Then she could feel two sets of eyes on her, and was it just her or was the air really thick in there? Ana could swear she could even smell the death and sadness.

She shook her head; she couldn't take this anymore. A once comfortable place near her family was now awkward…she didn't know anything to do or say to them.

She had to get out of there.

Quickly, she leaned over and timidly pressed her lips to her father's cold forehead. She straightened back up, mumbled a sort of goodbye to her mom and sister while looking at the ground, and left the room.

Ana didn't stop moving forward even after she was back in the medical ward's hallways; she put a hand to her aching head and walked straight to her bedroom.

She couldn't wait to be in her own room again and relieve all the tears she was trying to hold back.

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The next day Ana visited her father again, who remained asleep, and her mother who had spent the night with her sick husband and helped the nurse. She didn't stay very long in there before she went to visit Kai next.

The rest of the day went by slowly and Ana spent most of her time in Kai's room instead of with her family in her father's room. In the evening she helped Kai's nurse remove the bandages around his head and later helped Skye drag their mom away from her husband to eat dinner with them, Hilary and the guys.

Surprisingly, Tyson was quiet all though the meal, while Ana and Skye tried to force their mom to eat, but eventually ended up just watching the older woman pick through most of it.

The next day was a little different.

Ana woke up later then usual, feeling exhausted and emotionally drained already from begin tired of all the pessimism hanging in the air and feeling worried all the time for Kai, her dad and family, but especially her mom.

She dragged herself out of bed, made a half-assed effort to put something decent on, and went downstairs for breakfast.

It was late in the morning and Ana was surprised to see that everyone was down there eating still.

Tala, Ray, Tyson, Max, Hilary, Skye, and her mom were already eating, and most of them were chatting louder then usual. The air was charged with something that caused everyone to seem in a better mood then before.

That's when Ana noticed that Kenny was seated at the end of the dinning table –opposite from her spot – with a bright smile on his face and an empty space where his left arm should have been under his shirt.

Instantly, Ana felt her heart slightly lift from its cold resting place and a huge smile couldn't help but inch it's way up her face. From her place in the doorway, she rushed over to Kenny, threw her arms around him and squeezed.

Kenny was surprised at first – he hadn't seen her come in – but almost immediately wrapped his one arm around Ana's shoulders, returning her hug.

"Did they finally release you?" Ana teased lightly as she pulled away from him.

Kenny nodded.

"Yep, just this morning my nurse said I could come here for breakfast and that I didn't have to come back."

"That's wonderful, Kenny," the young queen replied sincerely.

"Yeah, I was getting pretty bored over there."

"I bet you were," Ana laughed, and the way her body vibrated with the simple action made her smile even wider. It left good to laugh. With her new, happier attitude, she walked over to her seat at the head of the table and sat down.

Ana listened contently to her friends as they continued talking. She didn't even have to say anything; listening was enough.

Maybe Kenny was a sign that things _could_ get better.

The hopefully chatter going on was enough to provide the atmosphere with a much more pleasant feeling, enough that it was actually comfortable to sit in again. It seemed like almost everyone – except her sister and mother, who put on the best smiles they could – was seizing the chance to forget and feel something better then depressed all the time. After so many days of worry and anxiety, it was nice to take advantage of Kenny showing signs of getting better. It was nice to escape from all the death and dying from the last week, no matter how short it could be lived.

It was a relief to forget about what would come tomorrow and just live in the moment.

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Before breakfast was over, Ana's mother had excused herself and wanting to be with her husband. Skye's first instant was to follow her mother, but Ana had pulled her back down and ordered her to finish eating.

After breakfast, Ana suggested that her and Skye find some flowers for their dad's room. The younger sister agreed and the two girls walked out to the garden.

Not one word was uttered as they picked flowers and walked through the peaceful morning. There was really nothing to say. After all the years of comforting the other one, they didn't know how to comfort each other at the same time for the same thing. Nothing like this had ever happened before; the closest thing would have been their grandmother's death but Skye hadn't been old enough to understand what was going on.

So they just savored the peaceful morning away from reality and it's cruelty in silence.

After picking flowers, the sisters went inside and to their father's room. On the way, Ana ordered a vase to be delivered to the room for their flowers.

According to the nurse that was just leaving the room when the sisters were entering, their dad woke up only once early this morning, ate a little, and then went back to sleep. She also said that his conditions were getting worse.

To Ana and Skye he looked the same as yesterday. He was still pale with the same bags under his eyes and cold clammy skin.

The girls had chairs sent in and they took their places next to each other on the side of the bed opposite their mother. Soon after, the vase Ana had asked for was brought in and Skye and her placed their flowers in it.

After arranging the flowers, Ana stood up and crossed the room to put the vase on a long table in the corner of the room that already had dozens of gifts that were sent to for the retired king to get better.

She placed the vase toward the center of the table and curiously scanned over all the gifts, which varied from vases of flowers like hers to healing wreaths and baskets of herbs.

Tears prickled Ana's eyes. The villagers could send all the healing gifts and good luck charms they wanted; she knew it wasn't going to help.

Her dad was going to die; there was no need to sugarcoat it.

It reminded her of when her grandmother was dying. No matter of prayers, medicines, or charms could stop the claws of death from eating her life away.

She reached over, and between her thumb and forefinger, rubbed the petal of a wilted flower in a vase next to hers.

She couldn't picture her life without her dad. He had always been there as a guide, a rock, and a law of discipline. He was a husband, a leader, and a father that sometimes made her want to run away or ripe her hair out, but he always had her best interests at heart. It was what he had become good at through the years of being a father and a king.

Underneath her fingers, the fragile petal fell off the dying flower and landed on the table below.

And what about her mother? How would she handle it? Ana wasn't sure what she would do if her mom couldn't keep herself together. Who would help her support the kingdom? And what about Skye and herself? They couldn't loose their mother too. Before her eyes she imagined her family crumbling like the flower she was holding.

Ana turned back to her broken family and her eye immediately landed on her mother as she wondered about what would become of her. Looking at the older woman, who was gently rubbing her husband's hand and staring intently down at him, she suddenly saw herself instead in that position leaning over a dying body. In her dad's place she saw Kai.

She realized that could be her in the next couple of days if Kai didn't wake up. That could be her not eating or sleeping and crying over her man's body.

Ana suddenly shook her head frantically trying to clear her mind of the image. No wonder she had been feeling so emotionally drained recently…she kept thinking one depressing thing after the other.

Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears. She couldn't be here any more because Kai needed her. She wasn't going to let him die. She wasn't going to watch herself turn into her grieving mother.

He had to live because what would her life be like without him?

She felt if she was near him, some how it would help him get better. Or maybe it was because she just didn't want to be in this depressing room anymore where all her feelings were on display.

Without saying a word, Ana spun around on her heels and left the room. She went straight to Kai's room where she pulled back the curtains, took the chair she had moved into the room for herself before away from the corner it was sitting in, and placed it next to Kai's bedside.

Ana sat down, took one of his larger hands in both of her smaller ones and stared intently at his face, like if she stared long enough and willed enough for him to wake up then he some how magically would.

After several minutes had passed and he didn't open his eyes, Ana started to doubt again.

A couple of tears fell freely from her eyes because she was tired of repressing them.

The same negative thoughts she had been having earlier about not being able to stop death once it made it's path circled around in her head again.

She moved her hands from his and reached up to run one of them through his hair and placed it on top of the head covering the brain that lay dormant. She then reached for his eyes and ran her fingertips over the closed lids that would never show his dark eyes again. She ran them over his left cheek and then his lips that would never kiss her back again, and then finally her hand rested on his chest just above his heart.

Despair was gnawing at her insides as she imagined the heart she could feel beating under his clothes and skin slowing and finally stopping all together.

"How did I guess you'd be in here…?"

The sarcastic voice startled Ana as she took her hands away and turned her head to face Skye, who was standing in the bare doorway, arms crossed over her chest and bitterness in her eyes.

Ana opened her mouth to ask her sister what was wrong, her eyebrows pulled together in confusion, before Skye beat her to it.

"You are so _selfish_," she spat, "your father is on his death bed just down the hall and all you can do is think about him."

Skye looked to the sleeping man beside Ana with a sort of resentment.

Ana shook her head apologetically.

"Skye, I can't handle it in there anymore and –"

Skye's blue eyes flashed.

"_You_ can't handle it? _I_ can't handle it!"

The younger sister threw her arms in the air in frustration and glared at Ana.

"I'm so sick of worrying about dad and taking care of mom by myself…I thought before the war was bad, now I'm practically having to prevent her from jumping out the window, and every time you've been with Kai. You've just been worrying about what you want to do, and what your desires are."

Ana's lips fell into a heavy frown and her eyes displayed guilt.

Of course Skye was right; she had been selfish. Were had she been most of these last couple days when her family needed her? Were had she been when Skye tended to her mother before the war?

The youngest girl had hot tears in her eyes now but was looking at her older sister with the same angry look.

"I need _help_, Ana. I can't do it all."

She wiped at her tears angrily and finally averted her eyes away from Ana's and turned around and left, not wanting her sister to see how hurt and frustrated she was.

Ana clenched at her heart that felt like it might weigh fifty more pounds then it did five minutes ago and laid her head on top of Kai's chest as she realized she had hurt Skye…and her family.

But what about Kai?

Kai needed her too.

She was torn between the two most important things in her life, and even though she knew she should always pick family over some boy, she still couldn't make herself get up. She should go find Skye and apologize; she should take care of her mother and comfort her; she should stay with her dad as he died, even though truthfully she didn't want to see it.

Yes, among other things, Ana could definitely be considered selfish.

Her head was pounding now as it crammed another emotion inside itself.

She listened to the rhythmic beating sound of Kai's heart: the only thing keeping him alive now.

She numbed herself from all feeling – a talent learned ages ago as a queen-in-training – and only listened to his heart call to her.

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"Ana…Ana, wake up!"

Somebody was shaking her violently. She groaned and rolled over.

"Please Ana…"

Ana reluctantly opened her eyes to see that she was lying in her own room in her own bed. It was still a little dark in the room, meaning it was early morning, and that's when she noticed pink hair hovering over her.

Once her eyes adjusted, she made out the face of Mariah, leaning over her with a desperate look on her face.

Ana squinted through the semidarkness.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

Mariah's eyes immediately filled with sadness.

"It's your father…he's dead."

Ana stared at Mariah for a few seconds as the news sunk in.

Seconds later, Ana was up and wide-awake.

As soon as the young queen had pushed herself out of bed, Mariah hurriedly shoved her onto a robe she was holding, and then watched her mistress as she ran out of the room.

It took a few minutes before Ana reached the medical ward and then to the room she was headed for, but when she did she saw many people outside her father's closed curtains. Among these people were her father's nurse, General Wyse, and a few other surviving generals and members of the council Ana recognized from their war meeting before the battle.

They looked up at her as she came closer and bowed respectfully, but gave her annoying sympathetic looks as she passed.

Ana ignored them. Her heart was pounding too hard against her chest, filling her ears with only it's beating. She pulled back the curtains and stepped inside the room.

Before her was her mother sobbing quietly in her usual chair, leaning over the bed, and Skye was behind her rubbing her back with red eyes and tears running down her cheeks. On the bed was her dad as lifeless, pale, and sickly looking as the first day she had visited him.

But this time he was truly dead.

Tears spilled over Ana's eyes and she fought hard against the couple of loud sobs that escaped through her mouth.

She had expected this, but now standing there in the doorway seeing it, she realized that that didn't make it hurt any less.

Neither her mom nor Skye looked at her. She imagined her mom was too busy grieving to noticed her eldest daughter was in the room hurting too, and Skye was probably still too upset to even look at her.

Ana clutched tightly to the folds of her robe, her cries coming out in soft, antagonized wails.

Standing by the door by herself, one hand clutching her robe and the other squeezing her middle, Ana cried for her father.

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Preparations for the funeral were made throughout the day and overnight.

After the body was taken away to be prepared for burial, Ana's mother spent the rest of her day alone in her room. Skye, being rejected from her mother's room and still not speaking with Ana, spent her time crying to Max and some with her maid.

Ana of course stayed with Kai. She didn't have any energy to see if her mom was ok or the guts to talk to Skye, so she stayed with her fiancé. Most of the time was spent in silence, sometimes she cried, and sometimes she talked to him, as he remained unresponsive. But whatever it was she did, it was always spent only with him. Every once and a while Ana got visits from her guy friends and Hilary to see if she was ok, some from Mariah checking up on her, and one from the nurse to remove Kai's splinter around his healed arm, but most were from servants arranging the funeral.

Ana eventually climbed on top of the bed and curled up next to Kai and fell asleep puffy-eyed and exhausted beside him.

He was her lifeline now and the only thing keeping her sane anymore.

In the morning, Mariah came and woke Ana up.

The servant dragged Ana from Kai, back up to her room, helped her with a bath, and then into a change of clothes.

Ana sighed as she took in the bags under her red eyes and the pale skin on her face as she looked at her reflection in the mirror she was standing in front of. Mariah was behind her tying the back of her black corset-styled dress. She was so sick of being depressed all the time. Looking back it seemed like half her life had been spent feeling sorry for herself. And now not only was she grieving from her father's death, but she felt detached from her family, and she wasn't doing anything about it. Like always, she shut the world out and herself in a little room.

"I'm doing it again, aren't I?"

Mariah looked up from behind Ana in the mirror with both confusion and surprise evident on her face.

"I'm wallowing in my self pity and acting selfish again, right?" She elaborated.

Mariah struggled for the right words to say.

"No one blames –"

"That's just what's assumed because nobody has the guts to say anything. But I know what they think," Ana snapped.

Mariah opened her mouth with an argument but Ana wasn't done.

"And their right," she continued looking shamefully at her feet through the mirror. "I mean my father was dying and I barely spent time with him, and now my family is broken, and still I'm not doing nothing…Skye was right."

Mariah finished the back of the dress and moved to stand in front of her mistress, her back to the mirror. She wiped a stray tear on Ana's cheek away.

"Everyone needs time when something happens, even you, queen or not, your still a human being, and you cope with sadness in a different way then your mother and sister do," Mariah replied sincerely.

Ana looked up and met her maid's bright hazel eyes.

"When you're hurt it's normal for you to act this way."

Ana shrugged and moved away from Mariah to sit on the edge of her bed to put her shoes on her feet.

"Maybe…" she sniffed sadly not entirely convinced, and then when she was done with her shoes she stood up. "…Will you walk me outside?"

Mariah nodded and the two girls hooked arms and walked downstairs and outside.

Outside in front of the castle a wood altar had been built and on top of it the retired king's body was placed. Underneath him handfuls of hay had been placed to help ignite the fire that would consume him, and on top of the hay was a silk white drape. The dead king himself was covered in a red robe and was adorned with flowers all over his body that people had brought for him. At each end of the altar long marble slabs had been placed and small flickering candles were burning on them, placed there by the families of the soldiers lost in the battle. There were so many candles that lot of them had to be put around the stone since there was no room to put them anywhere else.

Mariah and Ana walked closer to the altar and the large crowd that had already gathered around. The group of villagers split for the queen and her servant as the girls passed.

Ana solemnly looked at the people around her who bowed as she passed. Most were woman: some old, some mothers, and some children. Some were males but only really young or old ones, but every once and a while she caught sight of a surviving soldier. She could tell by his age or bandaged battle wounds.

Finally Ana stopped looking at them and focused on the ground instead. All of these people were just like her. They were the family and friends of the men that had perished in the war, now only a candle standing for the memory of their lost lives.

Ana held tighter on to Mariah and finally they made it passed the villagers. Now they were facing the altar, which was surrounded by the villagers around all sides. Right up next to it was a priest and beside him Ana's sister and mother.

Feeling like a coward, instead of going to stand over by her family, Ana walked up to her guy friends and Hilary, who were standing a little to the side of her mother and sister and a little farther back. Even further then that started the ring of villagers.

Ana was grateful that Mariah kept her arm around hers. She joined the rest of her friends and stood next to Tala on the end. Tala put a comforting arm around her waist and squeezed the young queen against his side.

Ana half smiled thanks and turned her attention to the priest who was starting the ceremony.

"Today we are here to mourn the loss of a husband, a father, and most importantly a leader…"

Ana's vision became blurry and she tuned out the priest. She didn't want to hear about all the things her father _had been_. She just wanted to pretend that he was still here, still alive, just sleeping on the wood altar.

But then came the time to burn the body and Ana couldn't pretend any longer.

At first she didn't feel anything as she watched the orange flames start to lick at the wood and then engulf her father's body; she only felt the warmth the fire was giving off. Then over the flames she saw the lit up faces of her family. Her mom's face was in her hands and she was shaking with sobs. Skye was standing perfectly still next to her, her face contorted with anguish.

Ana swallowed her pride, broke free from Tala and Mariah and walked over to her family.

She laced her arm around her mother's comfortingly, and despite everything that had happened between her and Skye, she reached around in front of their mother for her sister.

Skye gave a small, sad but thankful smile and took her sister's hand.

Ana watched as her father turned to ashes before her eyes and not once did she think about Kai, only her place next to her mother and sister were she belonged.

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"Don't die…_please_ don't die."

Even though life had pretty much returned to normal – the medical ward was almost empty, the damages to the village repaired, being so used to Kenny without an arm that she almost didn't notice it anymore, her mother actually seen outside her room and talking to people – there were still a few things that had yet to change.

First there was her sister, who she still wasn't having conversations with, only the occasional mumbled 'hello' when absolutely necessary. And second was Kai who had yet to wake up.

It had been three days since the funeral and over two weeks since the end of the battle.

Many nurses had tried to come in to check on Kai's condition and to try and tell Ana that it was a lost cause and they should get rid of the body more than once, but Ana wouldn't have any of it. If a nurse so much as whispered the idea of Kai being dead, Ana had them running out of the room with their tail between their legs.

They were wrong.

She couldn't loose another important person in her life.

"Don't you _dare_ die," she repeated as she stoked her fingers through Kai's dark hair lovingly over and over again while looking down at his blank face.

The sound of ruffling clothes reached Ana's ears. She looked over her shoulder towards the doorway where the sound was coming from to see Mariah standing there.

"Lunch is ready," the pink haired servant smiled warmly.

Ana sighed and pulled herself up and away from Kai.

"Thanks, Mari," she said with a small smile of her own to her friend as she passed her and walked into the hallway.

During lunch Ana contently listened to her friends talk and every once and a while put in a few words of her own. She was trying hard not to fall back to being sad all the time. When she was alone it was fine, but now she was trying harder to put on a halfway decent smile for her friends and family – not that the rest of her family was talking to her anyway. The retired queen wasn't mad at her eldest daughter or anything, she just hadn't really talked to anyone recently, and then there was Skye, who she guessed was either still upset with her about the fight, or was still grieving their dad.

Once Ana was done eating, she stood up, pushed her chair back and was mumbling to be excused, when her mother suddenly reached out from her left and gently grasped her wrist.

"You wouldn't mind walking me up to my room once I'm finished with my lunch, would you?" the older woman asked politely.

Being more surprised than anything, Ana mutely shook her head and sat back down. Hearing her mom speak words to her again was weird. Sure, she had probably spoken to other people, but ever since Ana had woken up from her injuries she didn't really remember actually _talking_ with her mom.

The retired queen nodded briefly in thanks, then turned to her youngest.

"You too, Skye?"

Skye looked up from her food looking almost as surprised as Ana, and nodded.

Ana's stomach automatically dropped as she thought of how awkward this 'walk' was going to be. It was one thing that she was probably actually going to get to have a conversation with her mom after everything that had happened recently, but another that Ana was going to have to walk with Skye too.

She rolled her eyes.

_Don't be such a coward_…she scolded herself.

By the time Ana and Skye's mom was finished, A New Found Glory and Hilary had already excused themselves and left, leaving the two daughters to wait for their mom in awkward silence.

Finally the retired queen stood up. Ana and Skye did the same and followed their mom out of the dinning room toward the upstairs. It wasn't until the three women were up the stairs and walking slowly down the hallway that the retired queen began to speak.

"I've done a poor job of being a mother these past couple days, and I want to apologize to you girls," she said softly as she walked. "I know I scared both of you and I've been a huge burden."

Ever since that fateful letter had arrived declaring war, the retired queen never once relaxed the anxious lines that littered her face or the worry in her eyes. The siblings had worried that one wrong question or one wrong word in front of their mother might send her shattering into tiny pieces. It was a time when their mom really showed them she was a real wife with real feelings, needs, and worries, and at first it did scare them.

But now the lines and fearful eyes were gone and replaced by loss and exhaustion. Now Ana and Skye didn't need to worry about being too careful because now they could sympathize.

Skye was the first to take their mother's hand and give it a comforting squeeze.

"We're just glad you're still here," Skye whispered.

The retired queen smiled gratefully, squeezing her youngest daughter's hand back.

"I'm sorry I've been neglecting you," Ana suddenly spoke up.

Her mom turned from Skye to look at Ana. She gave her eldest a comforting half smile and reached over to kiss the side of her white hair.

"I don't blame you, sweetheart," she replied selflessly, "you're worried about Kai…I can understand that."

Ana leaned into her mom, being pulled in by the warm love and attention she'd been missing lately.

Her mother sighed, looking off ahead, thinking to a different time.

"I bet you've had a hard time walking into a room full of people, right? Yeah, I understand. I know what it's like not to feel like yourself until he looks at you, or touches you, or makes a joke just for you to show everyone that your with him…god, that man could make me laugh…"

The older woman suddenly stopped talking to laugh a little under her breath.

Skye looked puzzled.

"Daddy?…I never remember you laughing that much."

Her mom stopped laughing and suddenly looked to both her daughters as she came back to reality. Her mouth was set in a grim line.

"Well, I did."

She turned her attention back to Ana.

"You just have to learn to balance your attention equally between your family, the kingdom, and yourself," she explained, going back to what Ana had been apologizing for earlier.

"And the worst part is you have to keep it to yourself," she continued, "as a queen you can never let anyone know how you struggle…and as you know, I've done a poor job of that lately."

Ana gave a bitter laugh.

"Well, that's something we obviously have in common."

Suddenly their mother stopped walking.

Ana looked up to see that they had arrived at their mom's bedroom.

The retired queen turned to both her daughters and kissed them each on the head. She unwrapped her arms from them and opened her bedroom door.

"I hope you can forgive a poor old widow."

"Of course, Momma" Skye smiled sincerely.

Ana nodded her agreement.

"Thanks," their mother smiled. "Now if you don't mind I'm rather tired and need a nap."

She closed her door leaving her two daughters in awkward silence.

Ana bit her lip as she watched Skye mess with her fingers.

_I should say something…say something…_

"Look I –"

"Ana – "

The two girls giggled at each other.

"You first," Skye offered.

Ana nodded and took a minute to figure out where to start.

"I want to apologize for my behavior recently too. You were absolutely right to yell at me the other day. It was wrong of me to try and isolate myself from you and mom and dad. I was completely selfish, especially when you and mom needed me."

Ana finished and looked up at her younger sister.

"I'm sorry," she repeated sincerely.

Skye smiled.

"I forgive you…and I also wanted to say sorry."

Ana raised her eyebrows, giving her sister a puzzled look.

"For what?"

Skye shrugged.

"For being too harsh," she replied gently. "I know you haven't had the best couple of months, and after thinking about it I realized that wanting to isolate yourself is totally understandable. I was just frustrated with everything I guess, and I just lashed out on you."

Ana shook her head not believing what she was hearing. She reached out, took Skye's wrist and yanked her sister into a hug.

"You're much to mature to be my younger sister," Ana smiled. She felt Skye snake her arms around her back. "Thanks for apologizing but you really don't need to, and you know it."

"No really –"

"No, don't say it."

"But – "

"Nope."

Skye laughed.

"Ok, ok!"

Ana kissed the side of her sister's head as she pulled back smiling.

"It's good to be back on speaking terms."

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"I'm gonna go get some lunch…are you sure you don't want anything?"

The white haired girl in question shook her head.

"Nah, I'm fine, you go ahead, Skye."

Skye shrugged and turned to exit the medical room.

Ana sighed looking back to her immobile fiancé.

She'd been doing better with not having to be in Kai's room every second of the day. For the past two days she'd been catching up on a lot of her duties and for the most part they kept her mind distracted from Kai. Just an hour ago was when she found herself bored with nothing else to do, so her mind wandered and next thing she knew she was back in her old chair in her usual spot next to Kai's bed in his medical room over looking his 'sleeping' form again.

The best part of the past hour had been when Skye came in to see her and the two talked a bit. For however short a time, Ana was grateful that Skye had saved her from a little time in her depressed mood while she was there, and besides it was nice to be talking to her sister again.

But now Skye was gone and Ana was alone again, her emotions free to resurface.

Kai had been out for, well…a long time; she'd actually lost track. Many nurses wanted to get ride of the body but Ana countless times refused. Kai's heart was still beating; he wasn't going anywhere, and Ana's word was law, so Kai's breathing but dormant body remained unmoved in his bed.

To Ana it wasn't a question of _if_ but _when_ he would wake up, because of course he was going to. How could he not after he'd been breathing in front of her for weeks? How could he just stop?

With her shaking fingers, Ana absently traced the patterns of sunlight that were littered over Kai's face and body that was shinning through the window. Her eyes suddenly became drowsy, so she laid her head down against his chest and slowly fell asleep while staring up at his face.

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Everything was stiff. And dark.

His head was throbbing like something was fighting to get out from the inside.

What had happened to him?

And why was it so hard to breathe? Something heavy was defiantly preventing the natural rise and fall of his chest.

He willed his fingers to move deciding to start simple, then his toes.

Next he cracked open his eyes.

The first thing he saw was just blobs of color with no shapes or forms.

It took a second before things started to come into focus and he recognized a lit up room with curtains as doorways, a table to his right, the bed he was laying in, and a head on his chest.

"Ana?" Kai hoarsely croaked.

Said girl stirred and finally her eyelids fluttered open sleepily to reveal exhausted blue irises.

Instantly the blue eyes changed from tired to shocked.

She lifted her head.

"Kai?" his named rolled off her lips in an astonished whisper.

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She didn't know how long she'd been dozing off before she could feel that something wasn't right…was someone calling her name?

Her eyes slowly flipped open.

The dark depths of Kai's dark eyes were staring unfocused back at her.

Ana's own eyes widened as she lifted her head and let his name escape her mouth in a single, amazed gasp.

"Kai?"

Before Kai could say anything, Ana jerked up and flung her arms around his neck, her whole body practically crushing him in the mattress below even further.

"Ohmygod…" she repeated incoherently over and over again next to his ear, not quite believing what was happening.

Kai frowned uncomfortably.

"Ana…get off, your crushing me," he said weakly.

Ana inhaled sharply and pulled back off him. She leaned over the bed and took his face in her hands so she could look him straight in the eyes. Her own blue irises conveyed relief and then happiness as she continued to stare at him. She moved her hands over his face so that she could run her fingers over his cheek, nose, lips, and feel his flawless, smooth skin that seemed to be already warming up to normal temperature.

Was this really happening? Was he finally awake, or was she dreaming?

Kai patiently let his fiancée run her hands over his face while his eyes curiously looked back at her.

"Ana, what's going on," he finally asked, confusion etched on his face.

His words seem to snap Ana back to reality because immediately she became flustered and let go of his face, and started towards the closed curtained doorway.

"I should get you a nurse –"

"But what –"

"No, no, you need a nurse, hold on –"

Ana hurried out of the room and yelled down the quiet hallway until a nurse appeared. A worried, young looking woman with strawberry blonde hair under a nurse's hat came from a room a couple doorways down approached the queen with an anxious bow.

"Your majesty, what's –"

"It's Kai, he's –"

Without needing to hear if it was good or bad, the nurse rushed into Kai's room.

Ana turned and peeked through the curtains to see the young nurse talking enthusiastically to Kai and tending to him at the same time.

The white haired queen leaned up against the outside wall next to the doorway into the room she had spent all most all hours of the day for the past few weeks in. She slide down onto her butt with a stressed sigh, giving her weakening knees a break. Unable to hold them in any longer, Ana broke out into happy tears that spilled over her eyes and down her cheeks. She pulled her legs in closer to her body, buried her face in her knees, and freely let her sobs vibrate through her body.

"Ana?…Ana are you ok?"

Ana suddenly looked up to see Hilary cautiously walking down the medical hallway toward her with a confused frown.

As she got closer to her friend, the brunette's expression turned fearful. She looked around and registered Kai's bedroom behind Ana.

"Is Kai…?"

Hilary found that she couldn't even finish as she choked back her sudden onslaught of emotions.

Ana shook her head.

"He's awake," the young queen smiled tearfully.

Hilary's eyes widened. She reached for the curtains to Kai's room, jerked them open and invited herself inside.

Ana stayed where she was, overflowing with too much relief and astonishment to move.

Kai was awake, and Ana thought her heart might burst.

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Even after the nurse was done and had given Ana the full report – Kai was going to be fine and should be ok to leave in a couple of days – she still didn't go see him. Hilary had gone to tell everyone while Ana left to get cleaned up, not wanting Kai to see her puffy eyed, red nosed, sobbing self.

It took a while, but finally when she thought she was presentable, Ana went back to the medical ward. She found her heart happily pounding erratically against her chest as she stopped outside of the closed curtains of Kai's room.

Not knowing if she was ever going to talk, touch, and kiss Kai again just a couple of days ago was making this moment unbelievably unreal to her. Doubts could be set aside now, multiple scenarios of her life and what she would do if he never woke up where thrown away. There were so many possibilities she could forget now because Kai was awake and alive and healthy.

Ana smiled to herself as she took a deep breath, and pulled back the curtains.

Inside the room was quite crowded.

Ana looked around at all the smiling and laughing faces of all her guy friends and in the middle the handsome – and yes, _smiling_ – face of her fiancé.

She cleared her throat, pressured by the intense desire she had to also spend time with Kai.

All heads turned her way.

"Hey," she greeted her friends warmly; "do you mind if I take over for a while…?"

The boys glanced at each other; good-hearted smiles still lingered on their faces.

"Sure, go ahead," Ray replied.

Tala, Ray, Max, Tyson and Kenny all said goodbye to Kai and hi to Ana on their way passed her out the door, but Tyson lingered a second to turn back to his bedridden friend.

"Don't worry Kai, we'll be back later."

"Looking forward to it, Tyson," Kai muttered sarcastically but with a hint of a smile on his face as he lightly rolled his eyes.

It was suddenly quiet in the room once everyone was gone.

Ana smiled warmly at the man across the room.

"Hey," she said softy.

"Hey."

Ana slowly walked over to Kai feeling a little awkward.

"Look, um, I'm sorry about earlier if I seemed a little…I don't know…crazy but –"

"I know. They told me what happened while I was out," Kai replied as he gestured toward the doorway.

"So then you know about the end of the battle and what happened to you and everything?"

Kai nodded.

"Oh. Ok."

By now Ana was right beside his bed. Timidly she reached out and ran her hand through his hair.

Kai caught her hand and brought it down to place it against his lips.

Ana suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes. Without warning she threw her upper half on top of him and squeezed him tightly into a hug.

"God, I could slap you," she breathed in his ear, her tone not quite matching her words. "You have no idea how hard it was to stare at you for weeks and not know if you were going to wake up or not."

Kai wrapped both arms – the right one finally being healed fully – around her back.

"And you have no idea how hard it was for me to listen to Tala explain how he had to drag _both_ our bleeding bodies back here," he frowned distastefully, " what the hell was going through you mind?"

Ana pulled away to look him square in the eyes, hot tears still sprinkled over her cheeks.

"I was watching you die and I couldn't do anything about it," she hissed, her voice almost breaking. She swallowed and forced herself to continue. "You try it sometime…I mean, _shit_, what did you expect me to do?"

"Well not throw yourself into a battle," Kai answered with piercing eyes. "Your good at fighting…but not _that_ good."

Ana rolled her eyes and let out a frustrated puff of breath through her pursed lips.

"Your unbelievable."

Kai sighed as he reached up to wipe the tear stains away from under her eyes with his thumb.

"Boris is dead," he said, changing the subject.

Ana sniffed as she raised her eyes, immediately interested.

"Really?"

Kai nodded.

"The explosion killed him. I saw his body."

Ana snorted bitterly, relief evident on her face.

"About time."

Kai suddenly shifted over meaning to make room for her. Ana smiled and climbed into the bed next to him, cuddling up to his body while he put an arm under her head. She wiped all traces of her tears away and laughed lightly when she realized she really hadn't wanted to act this way in front of him.

"I'm sorry I keep crying all over you…"

Kai kissed the side of her head in response and then a comfortable silence spread over the couple as they enjoyed each other's warmth and company.

"I heard about your dad," Kai's voice came suddenly out of the silence, "I'm sorry."

Ana shrugged, "I'm just trying not to think too much about it anymore. I've already cried, and I've already crossed that bridge, you know? I just want to move on."

After a minute Ana sighed contently, buried her head into Kai's chest and inhaled. His woodsy scent filled her nose.

"So now what?"

Kai shrugged.

"You tell me."

"Well, I was thinking now that your all better and I don't have to worry about you dying on me anytime soon I hope…I was thinking we could do that thing we've been meaning to do, you know, _marriage_…"

Kai grinned confidently and brought her closer to him.

"Whatever you want."

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The setting was a clear, cool day. The place was the beautifully decorated castle grounds. The time was late afternoon. The guests were the whole village, the castle staff, and then some.

The celebration? A wedding between Queen Anabell Williams and Kai Hiwatari.

The low afternoon sun shone down on the wedding guests, warming their skin as a cool breeze ruffled their clothes.

Mariah fixed a piece of stray pink hair that had come loose from its ponytail and tucked it behind her ear. She straightened the top of her strapless, royal blue, floor length bridesmaid's gown and then shifted her head a little to her left to see better around Skye's head of pure white hair.

In turn, Hilary, who was behind Mariah, moved her head also to the left to see the ceremony going on in front of the small line of bridesmaids.

Just feet from where Skye was standing at the head of the line, Ana was standing holding Kai's hand in a beautiful white wedding dress that laid flat on her figure, was spaghetti strapped, crossed in the back at her shoulder blades but exposed the rest of her back to her waist, and went to the floor. Her hair was in an elegant twist at the nape of her neck, and to decorate it a royal blue colored rose was pinned in the side of the twist.

Ana was standing half angled towards the minister and half toward Kai as she held his hand and stared intently at the priest.

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"We are gathered here today to celebrate one of life's greatest moments…"

I watched as the minister's pale lips moved but I really didn't hear what he was saying. I felt Kai squeeze the hand he was holding and all my attention went to him.

I admired for the hundredth time how amazing he looked in his black tux and white tie. But he was still himself. It was still Kai Hiwatari I was marrying. His face was still somewhat blank, his eyes still endless dark irises that stared back at me when most of his body was facing the minister, and his hair was still as untidy as the day I'd met him. He hadn't changed much, but I knew I had.

And it was still unreal to me that I was even here with Kai, standing in front of my whole kingdom about to be married.

I felt my lips pull up into an involuntary loving smile.

The corner of Kai's perfect mouth twitched upward into a small questioning smirk. I lightly shook my head back at him to forget it and turned my attention back to the minister.

I wondered what would have happened if I never would have chose to take a bath in the hot springs that night almost two years ago, and wouldn't have seen the mysterious cloaked figure with the red "X" etched into the skin of his hand? What if I had never decided to leave that night and sneak into the village and met A New Found Glory? Would I be here now, having gone through the best and the worst two years since then, standing next to this dark eyed, stubborn, infuriating man that I'd fallen for and was about to be married to?

Looking back on it, I couldn't imagine my life without everything that had happened to me – bad and good. Without it all, would I still be the same person I am now?

The non-stories.

The "what ifs".

But I had to believe that I somehow would have ended up like this anyway, here with Kai, being who I am now, because I knew this was where I was suppose to be.

I was suddenly jerked from my thoughts as Kai turned fully toward me and placed a ring on my ring finger on the hand he had been holding, all the while reciting his vows with his deep, rich voice.

And then it was my turn.

Mechanically – not because I didn't want to be there but because I still felt like I was in some other girl's body – I did the same with the ring I was to put on his hand while saying my own vows.

When I was done, the minister said something else, which I still didn't quite register – and the next thing I knew Kai was slipping his hand from mine, twisting it around my waist and to my lower bare back, and pulling me closer.

I smiled. I knew this part.

I gently placed a hand to the side of his face, tilted my own and captured his lower lip between both my lips.

Kissing Kai has always been indescribable with the way his lips move fervently against mine, the way his tongue feels caressing my own, and with the way he tastes. But this time it was different. This time it was sweet and chaste, and totally rare for him.

It was our first kiss as a married couple.

I'll have to admit I was _a little_ bit disappointed, but he was probably just saving it all for later, and that was ok.

Around us people clapped.

Kai pulled away from me and took my hand again as we faced the crowd, ready to walk back down the aisle. He started forward but I pulled him back.

He turned and gave me a questioning look.

I squeezed his hand in return. I had to hear one more thing before I left the altar.

Behind me came the ministers raised voice to the crowd.

"I now present to you King Kai and Queen Anabell Hiwatari!"

I smiled proudly and goosebumps prickled over my arms. Now that I had heard it said, it didn't seem like a dream anymore. I was really here with him.

My mother, who was finally looking happy again, and looking stunning in a long red dress, holding my father's crown in her lap, got up from her front row seat and walked onto the platform my new husband and I were standing on. The minister stepped back to make room for my mother behind Kai, and she placed the crown on top of his head.

Kai nodded his gratitude to my mom, but I could tell he was still deciding whether or not he liked the new weight on his head.

Me on the other hand, I thought my heart would explode from pride.

Once my mother sat back down, I squeezed Kai's hand and led him down the aisle of royal blue roses and silver ribbon. All applause had stopped, people bowed as we passed now. Behind us followed my bridesmaids and Kai's groomsmen.

As soon as we were clear of the aisle and at the back of the crowd, I turned to Kai, threw my arms around him and crushed my lips to his in an enthusiastic kiss.

"Please spare our eyes," came Tyson's sarcastic but smiling voice behind us.

I groaned, reluctantly pulling away from my new husband to glare at Tyson.

"You know, this wedding would have been perfect if you hadn't shown up," I teased.

"Oh please, I'm the life of this wedding," he boasted, "just wait until the reception."

"You're probably the most modest too," Hilary replied sarcastically as she came up to him. Following her was a New Found Glory, and Skye and Mariah looking beautiful in their royal blue bridesmaids' dresses and their hair in matching elegant ponytails.

Skye come up to me and hugged me.

"Congratulations!" she squealed excitedly. She pulled back and took my face up in her small hands. "You looks gorgeous, the wedding was beautiful, the decorations are amazing…everything was perfect."

I smiled and kissed Skye's cheek. I would definitely have to remember to thank Mi again when I saw her.

"Thanks Skye."

I looked over to my right to see Kai already in conversation with his friends who all looked awesome and oddly comfortable in their matching black tuxes and blue ties. Ahead of them I noticed our wedding guests getting up from their chairs and coming our way.

I loudly cleared my throat to get the guys' attention.

"Hate to interrupt, but Kai and I have some guests to introduce our new titles too," I said, "we'll see you at the reception."

Our friends nodded, waved goodbye, and left just as the first guests – an elderly couple – approached us.

I looked over at Kai, who looked a little out of place, and squeezed his hand comfortingly.

The older couple bowed, we thanked them for coming, invited them to the reception, and they left. Simple. But with hundreds of people to go after them.

The next guest was a young mother with a father by her side and an infant in her arms. They bowed and presented us the baby.

"Please your majesties, your blessing on our child?" the woman asked timidly.

I felt Kai stiffen at my side, and smirked, slightly amused at his discomfort.

I turned my attention to the family and changed my smirk into a warm smile before taking Kai's hand and placing his and mine gently on top of the baby's small head. Since Kai didn't know what to say, I said the words of blessing for us both.

"You should really lighten up," I nudged him playfully after they young couple left. "It's our _wedding_."

"I'm still getting used to being so important that people want my blessing," he said defensively.

I grinned and leaned up on my toes to whisper in his ear, "Well, get used to it, because now you officially belong in my world."

Kai mischievously smirked and suddenly twisted his head so that he could catch my lips with his.

"It's worth it," he said as another family approached us.

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The introductions went by quicker then I imagined, and the next thing I knew Kai and I were making our way over to the front of the garden were the reception was taking place. By now it was dark but torches sticking up from the ground illuminated the castle grounds.

In the distance I would see the large crowd of people attending mixed in with the mass of blue and silver decorations and flowers I had finally decided on weeks earlier, and I could hear the faint sound of cellos and violins playing softly.

We made our way into the noisy crowd with people occasionally bowing again politely.

Suddenly, out of no where, Skye's white head of hair popped up and she grasped my wrist trying to drag me ahead.

"Common, I want to dance!" she exclaimed excitedly. Her smile was so bright and contagious that I found I couldn't stop a smile from spreading over my face as well. But I did resist her pulling, and looked back at Kai, because as much as I wanted to dance with my sister, I wanted to be with Kai too, and besides I couldn't just leave him there…

"You guys will have plenty of each other tonight," Skye winked as she caught on to my reluctance, "now common on!" She gave my wrist another impatient tug.

I felt my face heating up at her words. I could tell Kai was amused at my expression.

"Go on, I'll come find you later," he assured me as he nudged me forward.

I smiled, nodding as I wrapped my fingers around my sister's and let her drag me away.

She was right, I would see Kai later, and besides what was a party if I only hung out with one person all night?

Skye led me to the dance floor with was located near the group of people on instruments and was surrounded by separate large rose bushes. For the reception silver ribbon had been laced through them and torches lit the perimeter so that all the people twirling and spinning together to the music seemed to glow.

Once my sister found a spot she approved of in the middle of the dance floor, she turned and took my other hand and waist. She waited until I took hers before we started moving with the elegant music.

"I feel so honored," Skye teased as we danced, "I get to dance with the bride before the groom does."

"That's because you pretty much took me hostage," I smiled.

Skye shrugged.

"Well like I said, you'll have plenty of time to make up for it tonight…" she paused to raise her eyebrows suggestively, "…are you nervous?"

"More like excited."

Skye rolled her eyes, "You would say that."

For a minute we silently listened to the music and danced before Skye asked another question.

"So how's it feel to finally be married?"

I paused to think of the right words to explain with.

"It feels…concrete," I tried out the word, but not feeling satisfied I gave her another explanation instead. "Now that Kai and I are married I feel like my future is secured exactly how I want it, you know?"

"I bet that feels good."

I nodded.

"You have no idea."

The song Skye and I had been dancing to suddenly ended and the next one started.

I spotted Max coming up behind Skye and when he caught me looking at him he put a finger to his lips with a mischievous smirk and winked.

I let an amused grin spread over my lips.

Skye gave me a confused look.

"What?"

Max finally reached her and tapped her on the shoulder. We stopped dancing and Skye let me go to turn around.

"May I have this dance, your majesty?" he teased as he bowed mockingly.

Skye's face brightened and she fought back a smile. She pinched the sides of her royal blue bridesmaid's dress and curtsied.

"I'd be honored," she struggled to say with a straight face.

Max straightened up, slipped a hand on her tiny waist and placed his other hand in hers before leading her away.

I immediately started looking through all the spinning couples around me for Kai somewhere.

To my right I saw Ray and Mariah gracefully moving together with the music and looking adorable with their matching blue tie and dress. Ahead, out of the circle of dancing people, was Tyson hanging out by the food table that had been set up, and next to him was Hilary who was talking to Tala and Gemma, one of the castle cooks, while her date stuffed his face.

Even cute but nerdy Kenny was dancing to my left with a redheaded servant named Emily – and doing a pretty good job of improvising without an arm – and what was I doing? This was my wedding reception, so I needed to find Kai so that I could make him dance with me.

A pair of arms snaking around my waist was what suddenly startled me, making me jump about ten feet. A low chuckle rumbled through a chest against my back.

I relaxed once I recognized the laugh. I turned around, smiling.

"Oh good, just the man I was looking for so that I could force him to dance with the bride on his wedding night."

Kai was smirking.

"Missed me that much, huh?"

What an arrogant prick.

I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, I missed you _that_ much."

As I was saying this, Kai reached for my right hand and laced our fingers together, but kept one hand on my hip.

I raised my eyebrows questioningly.

"_You_ actually _want_ to dance?"

"You're the one who told me to 'lighten up'," he retorted as he shrugged carelessly, "I guess I can live through a couple of dances."

I realized then that saying that Kai hadn't changed was a lie, because he had. Since the first time I met him he had changed a lot, just like my friends dancing around me, just like my life. Just like me.

18 years of growing up as royalty had taught me to distinguish what was artificial and fake. Years of being 'just another princess' taught me that true friendship is found in the most unlikely places, and that sincerity beats royalty hands-down. It's better to be complimented on your kindness then your clothes. It's more gratifying to be admired for your talents then your status. Accepting yourself as you are, and finding friends who love you because your _you_, will bring more happiness and comfort then any amount of status ever could.

I smiled lovingly back at my husband.

How I ended up this lucky, I'll never know, but I was going to take full advantage of it.

I released his hand from mine and instead put both my arms around his neck. I brought our bodies and our faces closer together until his forehead was pressed to my own, loving the way I fit perfectly into his arms, and loving my new place in the world.

Instead of feeling like I needed to mold and change myself to meet 'Queen standards' or what people expected of me, for once I embraced a new sense of peace and self-worth.

Why pretend that I'm not who I am – passionate, irrational, and hot-headed? Why not love me exactly as I am?

Well, I had found friends – a group, actually – and a husband, not wealthy and well known, but commoners, who did.

Kai and I swayed lightly to the music while family, friends, and guests gracefully moved in circles around us.

And this, is how I live now.

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Phew!

Thank you to everyone one who ever reviewed, and especially the people who reviewed frequently! I am sorry about my slowness though…I always had the outline of the chapter in my head, and then I liked to write it down and then type it so that I could change anything that sounded wrong. I filled almost 5 notebooks!!

Yeah this was definitely a huge project that went on for a lot of years…too many if you ask me. The only thing that bugs me now is that I wrote differently now then I did when I started this story so like the writing is different in like every chapter…oh well, I guess.

I actually was thinking about a sequel…I even had an outline and character profiles written out and everything, but then I realized that it didn't really have a good plot. I mean, I had what the main conflict was going to be, but I couldn't figure out how to fill the story until then, you know? Besides, the sequel would be about the children of everyone that got together and their life as teenagers in the castle, and their was just so many new characters I was going to add that I thought it might be too confusing to read.

But if enough people want some sort of sequel, then I will probably write a shorter version of the original idea. Let me know!!

If anyone is interested my next project – along with the sequel to this story if everyone wants one – is called 'Someone Like You' and it's a naruto fic. The summary is on my profile if you want to check it out. The first chapter should be up in a mouth or so.

Thank you to everyone again!! A special thanks to all the people who stuck with me!

Remember to let me know about that sequel.

--rayluva4


	31. Sequel

HEY JUST THOUGHT I'D LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT I STARTED THE SEQUEL, CALLED 'ANYONE BUT YOU'.

I'M ACUALLY ALMOST DONE WRITING IT SO UPDATES SHOULD BE EVERY COUPLE OF DAYS.

THANKS.

---RAYLUVA4


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